传统和当代语境中的“不孝有三,无后为大”——从“后”字意义考辨说起

Why No Offspring Is the Biggest Unfilial Piety:An Analysis of the Connotation of“Hou”(Offspring)

孟子“不孝有三,无后为大”一语中的“后”字不可释为尊长,故此语不可释为目无尊长是最大的不孝。在先秦儒家的思想脉络中,“孝”本质上是家族伦理而非家庭伦理,有祭祀祖先、奉养父母等诸多内容。无后,则“孝”的这些内容皆无从谈起,这是孟子“不孝有三,无后为大”一语的根本依据。随着近代中国社会的变迁,“不孝有三,无后为大”的制度基础和思想背景逐渐消失,也就不再为人所认可。当代中国应当确立以“善事父母”为核心内容的孝道观,而将“不孝有三,无后为大”从孝道观中剥离。

The word“Hou”(後)in Mencius’s phrase of“there are three kinds of unfilial piety and no offspring is the biggest”cannot be taken as“Hou”(后).Hence this phrase cannot be interpreted as contempt for elders,which is the greatest unfilial piety.In the overall ideological background of the development and evolution of“filial piety”thought of Confucianism in the pre-Qin Dynasty,Mencius proposed that“there are three unfilial piety AND no offspring is the biggest”because having offspring is the premise of all filial piety,and without offspring,no filial piety can be talked about.In contemporary China,traditional filial piety is still a virtue worth inheriting and carrying forward,but the concept of“there are three unfilial piety and no offspring is the biggest”is no longer suitable for contemporary society and should be stripped from the concept of filial piety.