“性不可以善恶言”——试论王安石对儒家人性论传统的超越

“Human Nature Has No Congenital Good and Evil”——Discussing Wang Anshi’s Transcendence of Confucian Humanity Ideology

从道气一元的本体论出发,王安石否认人具有先天的道德本性,认为人性主要是在后天的社会活动中形成的,其人性论思想主要体现在“性不可以善恶言”、“性情一也”和“善恶由习”三个有机联系的判断中。王安石的人性论与历史上的性善论、性恶论、性善恶混论、性三品说以及性善情恶论皆有所不同,这首先表现为思维模式的差异,王安石以本体论思维模式超越了儒家传统人性论的宇宙生成论思维模式;其次在思想内容上,王安石的人性论与儒家传统的人性论也存在根本差异,王安石以性无善恶论超越了儒家历来视善或恶为先天人性的人性论传统。王安石的人性论既是对以往儒家人性论的批判总结,也对后来人性论的发展产生了重要影响。王安石的人性论内容丰富,思想深刻,富有探索和创新精神,在中国人性论史上具有重要地位。

From the perspective of Dao and Qi, Wang Anshi believes that human beings have no moral nature. Wang Anshi believes that human nature is formed in social activities, which is not innate. Wang Anshi's theory of human nature is mainly embodied in the three organic connections between“Human nature has no congenital good and evil”,“humanity and emotion are unified”and“good and evil are produced in social behavior”. Wang Anshi’s thoughts on human nature are different from all human thoughts that have appeared before. This is first manifested in the difference of thinking patterns. Wang Anshi's ontological thinking mode transcends the cosmogenic thinking mode of Confucian traditional human nature theory. Secondly, in the content of thought, there are fundamental differences between Wang Anshi's theory of human nature and the theory of human nature of Confucian tradition. Wang Anshi used the theory that human nature has no good and evil to transcend Confucian tradition of treating good or evil as a human nature of innate humanity. Wang Anshi's human thought is not only a critical summary of the Confucian thoughts in the past, but also an important influence on the development of human thoughts. Wang Anshi’s humanity thoughts are rich in content, profound in thought, rich in exploration and innovative spirit, and have an important position in the history of Chinese humanity ideology.