“反其本而推之”——朱子对《孟子·梁惠王上》“推恩”问题的理解

Zhu Xi's Interpretation of Mencius' “Extending Gratitude”

"推恩"问题出自《孟子·梁惠王上》"以羊易牛"章。所谓"推恩",简单地说,指的是行为者在面对某事物(或境况)时发现自身所具有的特殊的"心"会自然产生某种道德反应,并将此"心"所产生的道德反应推而广之,施加到其他相关事物或境况中去,以使该行为者在面对其他相关的事物或境况时也能作出相同的道德反应。"推恩"理论涉及到许多复杂的道德和心理问题,中外学者尤其是西方学者对此作了相当深入的研究,本文所要处理的只是朱熹对"推恩"问题的解释。本文的基本主张是:西方学者的相关解释固然有其优越之处,但相比之下,朱子的诠释更能显示出理论的整全与一致。本文的主要目的有二:一方面尝试透过朱子的理解以显示朱子理论的主要特色,并以此回应西方学者的解释;另一方面也试图透过朱子的这种解释以呈现朱子在某种意义上对孟子理论的"扭转"。

The notion of tui’en推恩,which literally means'extending gratitude,'appears in Mencius孟子.Tui’en refers to the following phenomenon.If a certain thing or situation can give rise to a relevant kind of moral response in an agent’s xin心(heart/emotion)naturally and spontaneously,then his or her xin will extend the same moral response to similar things or situations,so that the agent exhibits moral virtues in all circumstances.The phenomenon of tui’en is connected to complex psychological as well as moral problems.While many scholars in Chinese philosophy,especially contemporary Western scholars,have tried to give their own accounts of tui’en,I will focus on Zhu Xi’s interpretation in this paper.I try to argue that Zhu Xi’s interpretation of tui’en is better than most Western accounts in terms of theoretical coherence and unification,although the latter is not without merits.In the process,I have two aims in my mind.The first aim is,through articulating Zhu Xi’s interpretation of Mencius,to reply the mainstream account proposed by Western scholars.The second aim is to reveal the distinguishing features of Zhu Xi’s philosophy,in particular,his'twisting'of Mencius.