先秦早期君子的“位”与“德”

Position and Virtue of Junzi in the Early Pre-Qin Period

先秦早期传世文献如《周易》《尚书》中的“君子”概念,学界多认为其内涵主要是指君王及贵族等“有位者”,是孔子在《论语》中反复论述赋予其诸多“有德者”的内涵,才使该词成为一个具有褒扬人品道德意蕴的词汇。其实,孔子之前的西周至春秋时期典籍如《周易》《尚书》等,有关“君子”一词的描述和记载,在指称“有位者”时常常并非只有“位”的意义,而是在许多情况下同时关注并蕴有“德”的内涵。“以位而名,含德而生”是先秦早期君子的主要特征和品貌,这既为后世君子形象的成长和丰满奠定了基本格调,也深刻影响了以孔孟为代表的儒家学派,以及道家、墨家、法家等整个中国传统文化,对君子作为中华民族代表性人格形象的千锤百炼和打磨塑造。

The concept of Junzi in early pre-Qin literature,such as the Book of Changes,Book of Shangshu,is widely agreed in academic circles to mainly refer to influential individuals such as kings and nobles.It is Confucius’repeated discussions in the Analects that endow Junzi with many virtuous individuals,which makes it a vocabulary with moral connotations praising one’s character.In fact,the descriptions and records of the term Junzi in ancient books from the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Chunqiu Period before Confucius,such as the Book of Changes,Shangshu,and the like,often regard those people with positions as not only with the meaning of position,but also with the connotation of virtue in many cases.The main characteristic and appearance of early Junzi in the pre-Qin period was named after their position and born with virtue.This not only laid the basic style for the growth and richness of the image of Junzi in later generations,but also deeply influenced the Confucian school represented by Confucius and Mencius,as well as the entire traditional Chinese culture such as Taoism,Mohism,and Legalism,which honed and shaped the character image of Junzi as a representative of the Chinese nation.