“即故言性”: 《孟子》“天下之言性也”章的阐释

Exploring Human Nature without Deviating from“gu”:An Interpretation of the Chapter“All Speak about the Nature of Things”in the Works of Mencius

《孟子》“天下之言性也”章素称难解,这是因为注释者们对孟子性善论的理解存在偏差。“性”是先天的、天生的,而“故”是后天的、人为的,孟子并没有把两者截然对立、分离开来,而是突显两者之间的交织互渗的一体性关系。“性”不能离开经验性的“故”的中介作用而直接对人显现,人因此必须通过“故”而探寻“性”的奥秘。通过“故”与“性”之间的结构性张力,孟子拒绝的是实体化、现成性的人性理解,而将性本身展开为一种动态的生成过程。一言以蔽之,从传统的“即生言性”向“即故言性”的转变,构成孟子人性论的视域转换。

It is difficult to understand the chapter“All Speak about the Nature of Things”in the Works of Mencius,because the commentators have a wrong understanding of Mencius’theory of good human nature.“Nature”is congenital and innate,while“gu”(故)is acquired and man-made.Mencius did not put the two in absolute opposition or separate them,but emphasized the dialectical relationship between the two intertwined and interdependent.“Nature”cannot directly manifest itself to us without the empirical“gu”playing the mediating role.Thus,the exploration of the mystery of“nature”relies on understanding“gu”.Through thinking about the structural tension between“gu”and“nature’,Mencius rejected the incarnated meaning or the existing understanding of human nature,and regarded the nature of human beings as a dynamic and constitutive process.In a word,the transformation from the traditional discussion of human nature with the help of biological quality to the empirical“gu”constitutes a shift in the horizon of Mencius s theory of human nature.