王船山后期的“人禽之辨”思想及其时代关切

The Thought by Wang Chuanshan in Later Period about the“Discrimination between Man and Animal”and His Concern of the Times

“人禽之辨”是儒家哲学的重要议题,关乎人主体性的确立与个体生命的充分实现与完成。《俟解》集中体现了王船山后期关于“人禽之辨”问题的思考。王船山视那些活得蝇营狗苟的庶民为“禽兽”,认为明末社会庶民普遍沦为禽兽的原因一方面在于沉溺于物欲生活不能自拔;另一方面在于人性中不善的“习气”替代了本有的“性气”,并且这一现象已扩散至整个社会。面对“庶民禽兽化”的社会问题,王船山主张通过礼乐教化等方式拯救庶民,即从人文化成角度化解“人禽”之间的冲突,体现出强烈的时代关切。王船山后期的“人禽之辨”思想意在凸显君子之于庶民的道德优越性,能否时刻坚守“明伦、察物、居仁、由义”等道德规范是君子区别于庶民的根本所在。

The“Discrimination between Man and Animal”is an important topic in Confucian philosophy,which concerns the establishment of human subjectivity and the full realization and completion of individual life.The book SiJie embodies Wang Chuanshan’s thought on the“Discrimination between Man and Animal”in later period.Wang Chuanshan regards the plebeians as“animals”,one reason is that the plebeians in the late Ming dynasty were descended to animals since they could not extricate themselves from their materialistic desires,the other reason is that the“bad habit”in human nature replaced the“original nature”,and this phenomenon spread to the whole society.Faced with the social problem of“plebeians as animals”,Wang Chuanshan advocates to save the plebeians through the education of rites and music,that is,from the perspective of civilization to resolve the conflict between“Man and Animal”,which reflects a strong concern of the times.Wang Chuanshan’s later thought of the“Discrimination between Man and Animal”is intended to highlight the moral superiority of gentleman to plebeians.Hence,whether gentleman can always adhere to the moral norms of“understanding,observing things,living in benevolence,being righteous”is the fundamental difference between gentleman and plebeians.