《論語》「天生德於予」辨析

自古以來，對孔子「天生德於予」的這一句話，時有一些不盡相同的理解。究竟這所謂之「德」，是指內在的本質，還是指外在的行為？而與「性」的關係又如何？再者，這「天生德於予」這句話，與《中庸》「天命之謂性」之間，是否有著關聯？諸如此類之疑問，始終沒有切確之答案。本文即針對這些問題，試著先探析《論語》中「德」與「性」的關係，然後從孔子之仁知（智）觀與《中庸》之誠明說切入，作進一層探討，得出初步結論，以為「天生德於予」的「德」，該等同於「性」，而這句話應是《中庸》「天命之謂性」之所本，從而為《中庸》思想源自於孔子之說法，提供另一有力證明。

關鍵字

德與性；仁與知（智）；誠與明；論語；中庸

並列摘要

Since ancient times there have been several interpretations of Confucius' ”Heaven produced the virtue that is in me.” Does this ”virtue (der2)” mean our human inner ”nature (xing4)” or outer behavior? What is the relationship between this (der2) and ”na-ture” in the ”Doctrine of the Mean” (zhong1-yong1)? Moreover, what are the correlations (if any) between ”Heaven produced the virtue that is in me” and ”What heaven has conferred is called nature?” The present paper focuses on these still undecided issues. First, I analyze the necessary features of ”virtue” and ”nature” in the ”Analects”. Then, I further explore the meaning of these terms in the light of the Confucian view of ”wisdom (zhi4)” and ”humaneness (ren2),” and the theory of ”sincerity (cheng2) and intelligence (ming2)” in the ”Doctrine of the Mean”. Finally, I conclude that human ”nature (xing4)” is the same as ”virtue (der2),” since ”Heaven produced the virtue that is in me.” This strongly sug-gests the Confucian (ru2chia1) origin of the notion that ”What hea-ven has conferred is called nature” in the ”Doctrine of the Mean”.