《老子》对“名”的重审与运用

Re-examination and Application of“Name”in Lao Tzu

“名”是先秦的重要概念,有着两重基本内涵,即名分义与指称义。无论是就社会政治秩序还是思想交流而言,“名”都被诸子视为有效的建构要素。然而,这种共识却被《老子》重审了,它不仅削弱了作为周礼秩序首要环节的名分之“名”的重要性,而且揭示了“名”的限度。不过,《老子》并未就此抛弃“名”,它意识到,其指实作用已是人们认知世界的必要中介。若要让世人突破世俗价值的桎梏,通达本原之道,是依然需要“名”的。由此,《老子》运用指称义之“名”创建了“正言若反”这种反常识的句式,并提出了“异名同谓”的明道方式。

“Name”is an important concept in Pre-Qin.It includes two kinds of foundational meaning:the nominal meaning and the referential meaning.Whether in terms of social and political order or in terms of ideological exchanges,“name”is regarded by the philosophers as an effective constructive element.Nevertheless,this common view was re-examined by Lao Tzu,which not only weakened the importance of“name”as the primary link in the order of the Zhou rites,but also revealed the limit of“name”.However,Lao Tzu did not turn away from“name”.It realized that the referential meaning is a necessary medium for everyone to perceive the world.To let the world to break through the shackles of secular values and understand the original way,“name”is still needed.As a result,Lao Tzu uses the“name”in referential meaning to create the anti-mainstream syntax of“speaking upright words like remarks implying a meaning opposite to what to say”,and to put forward the way of knowledge as“the same but with different names”.