孔子之仁是至德与全德的统一

Confucius’ Concept of Ren: the Unity of “Supreme Virtue” and “Complete Virtue”

在孔子的学说中,仁是一个最具争议性的概念。现代学者关于仁的含义主要有至德与全德两种看法。仁作为至德,是指所有美德都是因为仁才能称得上是美德,仁是一切美德的价值根源,只有指向仁的品质才是美德。仁作为全德,是指仁所具有的综合性特征,即仁不属于某种单一的品德,而是多种美德的综合,主要体现在成仁的过程与仁的功用。实际上,在孔子的仁学中,至德与全德都有所表现,仁是至德与全德的统一。

Confucius'benevolence or Ren is one of the most controversial concepts in Confucian Theory.By contemporary scholars,Ren is mainly interpreted as"supreme virtue"or"complete virtue".Ren is regarded as"supreme virtue"for Ren is the reason why virtues can be called virtues.We can also say that Ren is the root of virtues.That means virtues are the characters whose value is pointed to Ren.The reason that benevolence is called"complete virtue"is because has comprehensive characteristics.That means Ren is not any kind of virtues but the integration of all virtues.This is mainly reflected by investigating the process of being benevolent and the function of Ren.In fact,both the supreme virtue and the complete virtue are embodied in Confucius'theory of benevolence.Benevolence should be considered as the unity of the supreme virtue and the complete virtue.