“举一隅不以三隅反,则不复也”正诂

A Corrective Explanation of "When I Have Presented One Corner of an Object and He Cannot from it Learn the Other Three, I Won't Do the Same Again

历史上对《论语》中的“举一隅不以三隅反,则不复也”存在着严重的误解。皆认为学生如果不能举一反三就“不复重教之”。这种解释源于郑玄,被历代注解家所沿袭。笔者认为:首先,这种解释不符合孔子“有教无类”的教育思想;其次,这种解释不符合孔子“因材施教”的教学方法;第三,这种解释不符合孔子“诲人不倦”的教学态度;第四,从文字训诂的角度看,这种解释是增字解经。笔者认为,“复”字的意义是走回头路,即走旧路。这句话是从教育者的角度出发来说的,当学生不能举一反三时,教师就不能再走老路了,要改换一种新的教学方法;而不是从学生的角度而言的,不是当学生不能举一反三时就不再教他了。这样,上下文的意思就是一致的了,都是站在教师的角度来论述应当如何采用启发的方法来进行教学,我们应当恢复“举一隅不以三隅反,则不复也”的本来面目和积极意义。

In history there has been a serious misunderstanding of the words 'when I have presented one comer of an object and he cannot from it learn the other three, I won't do the same again' in The Confucian Analects. Based on the reading of the book and the observation on the general Confucian education perspectives as well as the Confucian teaching practice, and from the point of view of dialectal Chinese studies, the words should be explained as: if the student fail to draw inferences about the other cases with the one given, the teacher should consider to change his teaching approach. Such an nidea is best illustrative of the Confucian education principle, namely 'teaching the students according to their aptitude. ' Therefore the words are of positive implications rather than otherwise.