孟子何曾释“兼爱”为“爱无差等”——论后人对“孟子斥墨”的误解

Did Mencius Interpret"Universal Love"As"Love Without Distinction"?——On the Misunderstanding of"Mencius’Criticism of Mohism"by Later Scholars

后人之所以误解"孟子斥墨",以"等爱"理解他所说的"兼爱",首先在于简单接受夷之的"墨者"身份,未能充分注意夷之思行的不一致以及孟子对此不一致的清醒认识与特定批判;其次在于含混理解"兼爱"的涵义,未能分辨相关表述的语义指向而将可能存在差等的"去私"混同于"爱无差等";再次在于错误界定"兼爱"的性质,未能认清孟子所言"兼爱"实是比"爱无差等"的"二本"更具危害性的"众"先于"亲"的"一本"邪说。此外,先秦思想界对"兼爱"及其背后的儒墨联系有较一致的认识,基本不以"等爱"释"兼爱",论者于此大背景多未能予以细致考辨。

The reason why later scholars misunderstood"Mencius’criticism of Mohism"and interpreted his word of"universal love"as"love without distinction",firstly lies in the simple acceptance of Yi-zhi’s"Mohist"identity,failing to pay enough attention to the inconsistency between Yi-zhi’s advocacy and behavior as well as Mencius’clear realization and specific criticism of this inconsistency.The second lies in the vague understanding of the meaning of"universal love"and failing to distinguish the semantics of relevant expressions,therefore confusing"selfless"which may involve distinction with"love without distinction".The third is wrong to define the nature of"universal love",and simply understood the logic of"Jian’ai wu fu"as"regarding father as the others",which fails to further recognize that the"one root"of"universal love"is more harmful than the"two root"of"love without distinction".In addition,the Pre-Qin intellectual circle had a general consensus on"universal love"and the relationship between Confucianism and Mohism,and almost did not explain"universal love"as"love without distinction".Unfortunately,later scholars paid a little attention to this background.