合乎自然与合乎天道:古典德性论的好生活及其实现方式

Following Nature and Following the Way of Heaven: The Good Life and Its Realizing Way in Two Classical Virtue Theories

作为中西古典伦理政治哲学领域的德性论传统的各自重要代表,早期儒学和早期斯多亚主义在一种广大无外的、具有生物学特征的宇宙视域下,分别将人类个体的好生活规定为“合乎天道”与“合乎自然”,并且提出了“天下仁义”或“世界正义”的命题。不过,由于两个学派对作为宇宙基本运作原理的“天”或“天道”与宇宙之自然以及同之密切相关的人类之自然本性持有不同理解,两种好生活的发展路径——亦即人的自然本性尤其是核心本性的实现方式——体现出一定分野。而无论早期斯多亚主义的世界正义观,还是早期儒学的天下仁义论,既不是规范主义的、他律的,也不是完全利他主义的,乃是一种自我完善论或自我实现论。此外,两个学派对于两种共同体以及两种人类个体身份的区分,也为追求好生活的个体应该如何在凡俗世界中进行非凡俗的慎思与行动,提供了富有洞见的深刻教益。

From the all-inclusively and biologically cosmic perspective,early Confucianism and early Stoicism,which are the important representatives of traditional virtue theory in Chinese and western ethic-political philosophy,describe an ideal life for human being as“following the way of Heaven”(tian dao)or“following nature”and put forward an idea of“benevolence and appropriation(ren yi)under Heaven”or an idea of“cosmopolitan justice”.However,because the two schools have different understandings of“the way of Heaven”and the cosmic nature as fundamental operating principle of the universe and the human being s nature closely related to the principle,the two development paths of good life,namely the realizing way of human nature,especially the core human nature,are somewhat different.Of course,both ideas about the ideal life are neither normative,heteronomous,nor completely altruistic,but a theory of self-perfection or self-realization.In addition,the distinction between two kinds of community and one between two kinds of human individual identity by the two schools,also provide much instructive insight for those individuals who pursue a good life,as regards that how one should take some extraordinary deliberation and action in the ordinary world.