论阮元的“节性”思想

On Ruan Yuan’s Thought of“Temperance Control of Humanity”

阮元的“节性”思想在中国古代人性论思想中可以说是独树一帜的。一方面,他立足于两汉之前的儒学经典文献得出了“性”中既包含德性也包含欲望的结论,接续了戴震以“血气心知”释“性”的观点,主张欲既不可穷也不可纵,由此提出了“节性”的思想。另一方面,他又以“节性”为基础,提出了礼治等主张,并展开了对宋明理学和佛老之学的批判,力图恢复儒学经世致用的性格,以服务于现实政治和社会实践。

Ruan Yuan’s thought of“temperance control of humanity”is unique in ancient Chinese theory of human nature.On the one hand,based on the classic Confucian literature before the Han Dynasty,he drew the conclusion that“nature”includes both virtue and desire,promoting Dai Zhen’s viewpoint of interpreting“nature”with“xue,qi,xin,zhi(the proposition of human nature proposed by the Qing Dynasty philosopher Dai Zhen)”,advocating that desire cannot be limited or indulged,thus proposing the idea of“temperance of humanity”.On the other hand,on the basis of“temperance control of humanity”,he also put forward the idea of“rule of rites”,and launched a critique of the Neo Confucianism of the Song and Ming dynasties and the study of Buddhism and Taoism,striving to restore the Confucian character of pragmatism to serve the political and social practice of reality.