“道恒无为”还是“道法自然”?——论先秦汉晋道家哲学主旨的转变

“The Way That Is Naturally So”or“The Way That Never Acts”?——On the Transformation of the Essence of Taoism from the Pre-Qin to Wei-Jin

当今学界以“自然”作为解释道家哲学主要的核心概念,“无为”受到忽视。但是,“自然”与“无为”作为道家思想的两个核心概念,在思想史上的地位是此消彼长的。《老子》“道恒无为”与“道法自然”的提出,将“自然”“无为”提升到形而上的高度,二者是同等层次的概念。其后至西汉,道家思想家的自评与他者的评判以“无为”为中心,“无为”的地位高于“自然”。严遵《老子指归》与王充《论衡》开始将“自然”与“无为”并列起来,提升了“自然”的重要性。至魏晋玄学与早期道教经典那里,形成以“自然”为主的解释道家的思想理路,确立了自然主义的时代思潮。因此,以严遵、王充为界,道家思想的诠释主旨亦即“自然”“无为”的思想地位在学术史上实现了第一次转变。

Today’s scholars use “nature” as the most important concept in explaining Taoist philosophy, and ignore “effortlessness.” However,“nature” and “effortlessness” are the two core categories of Taoist thought, and their mutual disposition in the history of this thought is antagonistic.Laozi promotes “nature” and “effortlessness” to the height of metaphysics, and the two are concepts of the same level.Later, in the Western Han Dynasty, the self-evaluation of Taoist thinkers and the judgment of others centered on “effortlessness,” and the status of “effortlessness” was higher than that of “nature.” Yan Zun and Wang Chong began to put “nature” and “effortlessness” together, which enhances the importance of “nature.” The metaphysics of the Wei-Jin period and the early Taoist classics formed the “natural” interpretation of Taoist thought and established the naturalist trend of the times.With Yan Zun and Wang Chong as a boundary line, the essence of Taoist thought, that is, the “natural” and the “effortless,” realized the first transformation in the history of academic thought.