以孔子的眼光看古典文明

Viewing Classical Civilization from the Perspective of Confucius

孔子是一个“划时代”的人物,其思想包含两个时代的差异和矛盾。比如孔子的“仁”的观念,即表现了从仪式中心向伦理中心的转变。分析孔子人生和思想的两重性,有助于澄清“轴心突破”理论所造成的对孔子和古典文明的两个误解:其一强调孔子在“突破”“超越”方面的特色而不重视他对周代礼乐的继承,其二强调古典文明对秩序、规范、节制的重视而忽视它同思想自由、言论自由的关系。在此基础上看古典文明的特质,可以建立一个明确的认识,即作为华夏人进入文明时代以后全部智慧之结晶,古典文明既包含多种思想形态又有丰富的历史层次。

Confucius is an epoch-making figure,whose ideas contain differences and contradictions between two eras.For example,Confucius’concept of“benevolence”reflects a shift from being ritual-centered to being ethic-centered.Analyzing the duality of Confucius’life and thought can help clarify the two misunderstandings about Confucius and classical civilization caused by the“Axis Breakthrough”theory.The first misunderstanding is to emphasize Confucius’characteristics in“breakthrough”and“transcendence”without valuing his inheritance of the Zhou Dynasty’s ritual and music.The second misunderstanding is to emphasize the importance of classical civilization on order,norms,and moderation,while ignoring its relationship with freedom of thought and speech.On this basis,the characteristics of“classical civilization”can be established as a clear understanding,that is,the crystallization of all the wisdom of Chinese people after entering the civilized era,which contains multiple forms of thought and rich historical levels.