論先秦儒學對「自我」（自我作聖）的認識與開展

Notions of Self in pre-Qin Confucian Philosophy

孔子立論「仁禮互攝」，揭示「禮」的人文精神從為己之「仁」得以展現，不但繼承了周文傳統的精義，也開創了文化世界新的未來。孔子強調「為己之學」，以「恕」作為「終身行之者」的標準，「不使不仁者加乎其身」，恪守三省吾身，警惕血氣三戒等，以三畏九思正其身，身正方能正人，從政自然令行。是以修身成為儒家哲學的核心意義。此內外合一的自我觀，為爾後的孟子與荀子所繼承，孟子強調「求其放心」以達「踐形」之目的，是為對自我認識與發展的內在一路；荀子就「化性起偽」切入，強調「人道之極」的「禮」，是為對自我認識與發展的外在一路。儒家對自我的認識之分殊性亦由此而起。但得以看出，儒家的自我不是意識形態孤伶伶的主體，而是一個人如何從生物性意義轉化為具文明教養之人，其能與物為善，並自我安頓於天地之間，使一切得以臻至圓滿。這種跨時空的自我觀點，即是儒家哲學對人類世界最大的貢獻。

Confucius bases his theory on the combination of humanness (ren) and rites (li). His humanism relies on the cultivation of one’s humanness which is then displayed in the rites. In this way he not only continues the tradition of the Zhou dynasty, but also creates a new cultural basis for the future. Confucius stresses the importance of selfcultivation as the basis for one’s moral and political behavior, thus self-cultivation becomes pivotal in Confucian philosophy. But in the following the Confucian path splits. Whereas Mencius stresses the importance self-cultivation by the means of “recovering one’s heart”, Xunzi puts emphasis on the “transformation of human nature” by the rites. These are two different concepts of self within the Confucian tradition. But both of these concepts do not conceive the self as a lonely subjective consciousness, but put emphasis on the transformation from the natural state of man into a cultivated state, conceiving the self as interrelated with others and as part of larger nature. The transformation of oneself, others and the world as a whole to perfection lies at the heart of Confucian thought. This concept of self is the greatest contribution of Confucian philosophy to humanity.