荀子人性論新詮：附《榮辱》篇23字衍之糾謬

A New Interpretation of Xunzi's Theory of Human Nature

傳統的詮釋多以荀子主張人性本惡，與此相反，本文一方面要論證此一詮釋之不確，或至少不全面，另一方面則依照荀子的文本，建構一新的詮釋，從而斷定他的人性論中實肯定有致善的積極因素。為了達至上述兩個目的，我將提出論據證明荀子文本中某些重要段落被誤釋或錯置，分析在〈正名〉篇中「偽」字的兩種不同而相關的用法：其一表示人性中的某些潛能，另一表示行為的後果。此外，我將論證王念孫及王先謙等人將〈榮辱〉篇中二十三字視為衍文之不確，從而為荀子的人性論提供一個較確當和較融貫明白的新解釋。

In contrast to the traditional and ordinary interpretation of Xunzi's (荀子) theory of human nature which considers Xunzi's theory as claiming that human nature is bad or evil, this paper aims at, firstly, arguing that the interpretation is wrong, at least incomplete; and secondly, constructing a new interpretation that, according to Xunzi's text, there are some factors in human nature which are able to promote good behaviors. In order to do these, I shall demonstrate that some major paragraphs in Xunzi's text were misinterpreted and misarranged, analyze that the word wei (偽 artifice) in the chapter of 'Zhengming' (正名, On the Correct Use of Names) has two different but related senses, one of which designates some of the potential capacities of human nature, and argue that the 23 words in the chapter of 'Rongru' (榮辱, On Honor and Disgrace) should not be deleted as redundant, as was done by the two famous philologists in Qing dynasdy, Wang Niansun (王念孫) and Wang Xianqian (王先謙). Based on these analyses and arguments, I shall provide a new interpretation of Xunzi's theory of human nature in a more cogent and coherent way.