养气、知言与赞美孔子——《孟子》“知言养气”章新解

Cultivating Qi,Analyzing Views and Eulogizing Confucius——A New Interpretation of“Zhi Yan Yang Qi”in Mencius

中国古代的气可分为物质之气与精神之气,后者又包括血气、情气和德气。血气主要针对人的生理欲望而言;情气指人的自然情感活动,如“喜怒哀悲之气”;德气则指人的道德情感活动,如仁气、义气等。孟子的浩然之气不是来自血气、情气,不是对血气、情气的理性升华,而是来自仁义之气,是“集义所生”。孟子的“夜气”“平旦之气”均是指德气而言。孟子自称可以做到知言,可以辨别言辞的错误所在,但没有提出一套分析错误言辞的理论方法。出现这种情况,主要因为孟子过分重视良知、良能,强调心的直觉能力,在一定程度上忽略了经验认知的作用。辨别错误言辞不能仅仅靠良知、良能,还要靠经验观察、逻辑分析,而这恰恰是孟子所缺乏的。孟子高度肯定、赞美孔子,实际是通过孔子寄寓自己的政治理想,视孔子为自下而上用文化、道德影响政治的新王,在得君行道之外,探寻一条觉民行道,甚至为君行道的道路,故“自生民以来,未有盛于孔子也”。

In ancient Chinese culture,Qi(气)can be divided into two categories:material and spiritual.The latter includes blood Qi,emotional Qi,and moral Qi.Among the three,blood Qi mainly refers to human physiological desires,and emotional Qi refers to emotional activities(such as joy,anger,sorrow,and sadness),while moral Qi is related to moral and/or emotional activities,such as benevolence,righteousness,and so on.Magnanimity(浩然之气)advocated by Mencius is not from blood or emotion,neither is it the rational sublimation of the two.Instead,it is from the benevolence and righteousness,which is yielded by“combining righteousness”(集义).Both Mencius’night Qi and morning Qi refer to moral Qi.Mencius claimed to be able to understand views critically and to identify errors in them,but he failed to propose a theoretical method to analyze erroneous views.The main reason for this is that Mencius emphasized excessively on conscience and the intuition,but neglected,to some extent,the role of experiential cognition.It takes,as is known,not only conscience and ability,but also empirical observation and logical analysis to identify errors in views.And the latter is what Mencius lacked.Mencius embodied his political ideals into those of Confucius by highly affirming and praising Confucius:he treated Confucius as a new king who influenced politics through culture and morality,from common people to monarchs.To realize his political ideals,in addition to finding the appropriate monarch to practice his belief,Confucius was looking for a path to cultivate people,and even to practice this cultivation for monarchs.Therefore,“Confucius is the top sage among all”.