心、生为性——早期“性”观念的发生学考察

Heart and Life as Two Aspects of Nature:A Genetic Investigation into the Early Concept of Nature

对于“性”字的起源,大多认为其是由“生”字孳生而来的。郭店楚简等出土文献中“性”皆写作“眚”的情况增加了对此问题认识的困难。通过对甲骨文、金文中“生”字的分析,可知其并未包含“性”方面的含义。结合《诗》《书》等相关记载,可知至少在西周初年就已经形成了“性”的观念。通过与“德”字的比照来看,“性”字的产生与“性”观念的形成应该几乎是同时的,也就是说,在西周初年就已经产生从心从生的“性”字。这同时说明郭店楚简等出土文献中“性”字写作“眚”字的情况在当时是不具有普遍性的,我们不能完全根据现在发现的出土文献来否定传世文献的相关记载。这样看来,考察“性”观念的产生不仅要结合古文字的演变规律,而且要考虑到思想方面的相关因素。只有这样,我们才能对“性”观念的发生有一真正的认识。

As for the origin of the word“nature”,most of people think that it is derived from the word“sheng(生)”.The fact that“nature”is written as“sheng(眚)”in the unearthed documents such as Guodian Chu bamboo slips increases the difficulty of understanding this issue.Through the analysis of the word“sheng(生)”in oracle bone inscriptions and bronze inscriptions,it can be seen that it does not contain the meaning of“nature”.Combining with relevant records such as Shijing and Shangshu,it can be seen that the concept of“nature”has been formed at least in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty.From the comparison with the word“de(德)”,the generation of the word“xing(性)”and the formation of the concept of“nature”should be almost at the same time,that is to say,in the early Western Zhou Dynasty,the word“xing(性)”was born.This also shows that the word“xing(性)”written as“sheng(眚)”in the unearthed documents such as Guodian Chu bamboo slips was not universal at that time,and we cannot completely deny the relevant records of handed down documents based on the unearthed documents discovered now.From this point of view,to investigate the emergence of the concept of“nature”,we must not only combine the evolutionary laws of ancient writing,but also take into account the relevant factors of thought.Only in this way can we have a real understanding of the occurrence of the idea of“nature”.