儒学“心性”概念的哲学本质及其当代转化——蒙培元“中国心性论”述评

Philosophical Essence of“Heart-Nature”in Traditional Confucianism:A Review of Meng Peiyuan’s“Chinese Theory of Heart Nature”

蒙培元在20世纪80年代提出的“中国心性论”,将中国传统哲学的儒家、道家、佛家等都归入“心性论”,这是一个独创的观点,既归纳了各家心性论的共性,又特别强调了儒家心性论的特性。“中国心性论”是当代哲学“情理学派”的产物,涉及“新理学”、“情感儒学”、“生活儒学”,以及“自由儒学”“心灵儒学”等。但是,对于蒙培元的情感儒学来说,“中国心性论”其实只是其早期的一个过渡性的观念。传统心性论其实并非所有儒家学派的思想,更非孔孟儒学的思想,而是宋明理学的一种哲学建构;它的哲学本质属于传统本体论的主体性哲学,因而必须接受当代哲学前沿思想的反思,即接受“主体性何以可能”的追问。因此,心性论的当代转化意味着解构旧的心性论,回溯到前主体性的生活情境,从而重建主体性及其心性,尤其是现代性的个体主体性。

In the 1980s,Meng Peiyuan proposed the“Chinese Theory of Heart Nature”,which classified Confucianism,Taoism,and Buddhism in traditional Chinese philosophy as“the theory of heart nature”.This is an original perspective,which not only summarizes the commonalities of the heart nature theories of various schools,but also emphasizes the characteristics of heart nature theories of Confucianism.“The Chinese Theory of Heart Nature”is the product of the“Emotional Reason School”in contemporary philosophy,involving Feng Youlan’s“New Confucianism”,Meng Peiyuan’s“Emotional Confucianism”,Huang Yushun’s“Life Confucianism”,and“Free Confucianism”,“Spirit Confucianism”and so on.However,for Meng Peiyuan’s emotional Confucianism,the“Chinese Theory of Heart Nature”is actually just an early transitional concept.The traditional theory of heart nature is not the thought of all Confucian schools,let alone Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius,but rather a philosophical construction of Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming dynasties.Its philosophical essence belongs to the subjective philosophy of traditional ontology,so it is necessary to accept the reflection of the forefront of contemporary philosophical thought,namely,to accept the inquiry of“why subjectivity is possible”.Therefore,the contemporary transformation of the heart nature theory means deconstructing the old theory of heart nature,tracing back to the life situation of pre subjectivity,and thus reconstructing subjectivity and its heart nature,especially the individual subjectivity of modernity.