先秦儒家的“富德两难”问题

A Solution to the Dilemma between Material Wellbeing and Moral Cultivation in Pre-Qin Confucianism

道德修养是否必须以物质富裕为前提?先秦儒家对此表达了两种看似矛盾的观点,我们可以将此解读为早期儒家的“富德两难”问题。对此问题可以提出四种可能的解决方案,即分别主张:(一)对上述问题的正反两种解答一对一错;(二)物质富裕与物质贫困分别对应不同德性;(三)物质价值与道德价值相互独立;(四)上述矛盾命题分别针对着不同的说教对象。然而,这四种处理方案,各有其文本解释与学理上的局限性。区分个人和社会两种视角,一方面强调个人在道德选择上肩负着无法推卸的责任,另一方面从统计科学的角度看待社会整体道德水平与物质贫富之间的正相关关系,或为解释物质富裕与道德修养关系问题的有效思路。

Is material wellbeing a pre-condition for moral cultivation?Or moral cultivation can be achieved independently of material wealth,and poverty can even be conducive to one s moral development?Two lines of contradictory positions can be found in pre-Qin Confucianism.We examine four possible solutions to this puzzle,that is:1.one of the horns in the dilemma could simply be false;2.material richness and poverty provide different environments to attain respective virtues;3.material value and moral value are independent of each other;4.different teachings aim at different kinds of people.However,all of the four solutions have limitations and difficulties in textual interpretation and theoretical consistence.Our solution is to differentiate individual perspective from social perspective.On the one hand,a person is responsible for his moral cultivation;on the other hand,there is a positive relationship between material wellbeing and social moral standards in statistical sense.This twofold account solves the dilemma between material wellbeing and moral cultivation in pre-Qin Confucian philosophy.