告子性論定位之省思

Abstract

1993 年，湖北郭店楚墓出土，這一批大量簡書的出土，在學術界帶來了極大的衝擊，首當其衝的便是先秦至兩漢這個兵荒馬亂的時期，歷來儒家思想史的研究在這一個時段可以說是混沌而模糊的，楚簡的出現，雖不能道盡其中的曲折變化，但這批戰國晚期出土的儒道佚籍，確實為先秦學術的研究帶來了新的契機，開拓新的視野。其中直接關涉儒家思想核心—心性論者，即〈性自命出〉一篇，藉由日前研究成果的勾勒，可以發現此篇思想與孟子當時屢屢駁斥、辯論的告子之說，有著若干相符的基調。本文藉由比較簡文與告子兩者論性之異同，期能藉此省思歷來對告子性論的定位。

The large number of books from Guodians of the Chu dynasty found in Hu-pei in 1993 shocks scholars, especially those studying the feudal state in the Chin and Han periods. The previous knowledge of how Confucianism had been spread during this period was indefinite and incomplete. The discovery of the Chu dynasty texts led to a breakthrough in Confucian scholars’ understanding of the period. Among these Chu texts, the “Sing zih ming chu” presents an idea of human nature close to the original Confucian idea. This researcher has concluded that the ideas found in this text are also similar to the ideas Gao-zih, a philosopher with whom Mencius debated. This paper will reconsider Gao-zih’s ideas of Human Nature and redefine the role it played in Cinfucian development by comparing the ideas of human nature found in the “Sing zih ming chu” with Gao-zih’s own conceptions.