无为而无多为:先秦儒家的无为观分析

No Action without Much Action: Analysis of Pre-Qin Confucianism’s View of No Action

长久以来,“无为而治”一直被认为是道家专属观念。实则不然,先秦时期的“无为而治”是作为中国传统学派最高程度的政治理想而存在的。道家、法家,以及儒家都以此作为最高政治追求。本文从先秦儒家思想入手,立足于《论语》《孟子》《礼记》等经典文献,阐发“无为而治”这一思想。追溯“无为而治”思想的历史性起源,寻找“无为而治”思想的形而上依据,最终阐释这一思想在实践活动中的具体表现,即无为而无多为的辩证性无为。

For a long time, “ruling without doing anything” has been regarded as a Taoist concept. In fact, in the pre-Qin period, “ruling by doing nothing” existed as the highest political ideal of the Chinese traditional school. Taoism, Legalism, and Confucianism all took this as their highest political pursuit. This article starts with the pre-Qin Confucianism, based on the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Li Ji and other classic literature, expounding the thought of “ruling without doing anything”, tracing back the historical origin of the thought of “ruling without doing”, looking for the metaphysical basis of the thought of “ruling without doing”, and finally explaining the concrete manifestation of the thought in practical activities, that is, dialectical inaction without doing much.