朱熹、王阳明的“格物致知”论比较——以其《春秋》《左传》学为视角

Comparison of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming’s Gewuzhizhi Theory——from the perspective of Spring and Autumn Annals and Zuo Zhuan

朱熹和王阳明对《春秋》的评价大致相同,他们都肯定《春秋》的价值,认为其中蕴含圣人之道。换言之,朱熹和王阳明都将《春秋》中的“大义”视为“天理”。但是,朱熹和王阳明对《左传》的态度却截然相反。朱熹认为《左传》是理解《春秋》和探知“天理”的必要文献;王阳明认为《左传》所载的内容尽是“人欲”,不值得提倡。他们之间的差异源自于对“格物致知”理解的不同。朱熹倡导“即物穷理”,《左传》即是“物”,《春秋》中的“大义”则是“理”;王阳明推崇“致良知”,《春秋》中的“大义”作为“良知”应当向内自求,而非在《左传》这种“外物”上做工夫。他们“格物致知”论的不同也影响其解经方式,朱熹强调从礼法入手,王阳明则以正心为核心。

Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming both affirm the value of the Spring and Autumn Annals and believe that it contains the way of the sage.In other words,both Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming regarded the great righteousness in the Spring and Autumn Annals as the principle of heaven.However,the two scholar showed different attitude to Zuo Zhuan.Whereas Zhu Xi believed that Zuo Zhuan was a necessary document to understand the Spring and Autumn Annals and explored the principles of heaven,Wang Yangming thought that the content contained in Zuo Zhuan is"human desire".The difference between them stems from the different understanding of Gewuzhizhi.When Zhu xi advocated to know the rationale through matter,he conceived that Zuo Zhuan is the matter,the inner principle in the Spring and Autumn Annals is rationale.However,Wang Yangming advocates to know the rationale through intuition.He conceive inner principle in the Spring and Autumn Annals as intuition rather than to know the rationale through outer matter in Zuo Zhuan.Their different theories of Gewuzhizhi also exerted strong influence on their interpretation of the classics.Whereas Zhu Xi emphasized the approach of rites and law,Wang Yangming took inner intuition as the core for interpretation.