论子贡对孔子恕道的发展与超越

On Tsze-kung’Development and Transcendence about Confucius’Reciprocity

子贡提出“我不欲人之加诸我也,吾亦欲无加诸人”,并非孔子“己所不欲,勿施于人”恕道的另一种表达,而是对孔子恕道的发展。孔子恕道,基本是在统治集团内部地位较高的统治者对地位较低者所行,是在封建制、宗法制下对统治者的道德期许。在制度层面,孔子恕道是依附周制的。而子贡恕道,较多关注个体权利,蕴含个体追求平等、自由的萌芽,是在春秋末期社会变迁背景下产生的全新命题。澄清孔子恕道与子贡恕道差异,有助于认识先秦儒学丰富性、多样性,对今日之继承具有重要启发意义。

Tsze-kung said,“What I do not wish men to do to me,I also wish not to do to men.”This saying is regarded by many scholars as another expression of Confucius’s saying—“not to do to others as you would not wish done to yourself”.In fact,the two are different.Confucius’s saying described,basically within the ruling group,what the ruler of a higher position should do to the ruler of a lower position,which was actually a moral obligation as a ruler under the feudal system and patriarchal society,dating back to Zhou dynasty.However,what Tsze-kung said emphasized individual rights.The sprouts of individual pursuit of equality and freedom residing within his words was new and fresh under the background of social changes in the late Spring and Autumn.To clarify the distinctions between the two expressions helps to realize the richness and diversity of Confucianism pre-Qin dynasty and how to inherit their wisdoms appropriately nowadays.