“不言之教”如何可能——兼论《道德经》第一、二章在老子教育思想中的地位

How Is It Possible to Teach without Words:The Role of the First Two Chapters of Tao Te Ching in Laozi’s Educational Thoughts

迄今对老子教育思想的研究,要么因老子主张"无言"而实际否认了老子存在教育思想,要么虽然承认老子教育思想的存在,却只是通过老子哲学思想推论其教育思想,实际上不是对老子教育思想的研究,而是对"老子哲学思想的教育学意义"的研究,实际上还是否认了独立的、系统的老子教育思想的存在。本文从老子撰写《道德经》时独特的语境出发,指出老子《道德经》第一章和第二章是为了回答关尹喜等学道者对道是否可教、可学,以及如何学、如何教的回答,承担了类似"道学教学指南"这样的功能,因此是对老子"不言之教"思想的系统论述。

Up to now,the studies of Laozi’s educational thoughts have either denied the existence of Laozi’s educational thoughts because Laozi advocated"speechless",or only acknowledged his educational thoughts only through his philosophical thoughts.In fact,they all deny the existence of independent and systematic educational thoughts by Laozi.Based on an examination of Laozi’s Tao Te Ching,this paper points out that the first and second chapters of Laozi’s Tao Te Ching aim to answer whether Taoists,such as Guan Yinxi,can learn Tao,and how to learn Tao and how to teach Tao.They play the function similar to a"teaching guide",so they are the systematic expositions of Laozi’s idea of"teaching without words".