東周的教育及學術思想(四)：儒家教育思想之承傳與體系之完成

儒家教育思想由孔子始創，孟荀繼之，成為此後的定見。前文已經說明過，從教育立場說，孔子奠定了思想基礎，後世尊之為萬世師表。然而孔子之開創儒家教育思想，乃是承襲了中華文化原已建立了的傳統，以有資料可據的來說，是自堯舜禹湯文武周公以來的思想精萃，是中華民族的先哲所見所思、彙集而成的由天道而人道的觀念，從而積極的培養人道。而要培養人道，便要從人這方面說起。孔子在論語中呈現的多是人在積極方面所應該自勵自強的努力；對人的消極方面指明的較少而且把人之「止於至善」的責任，先行寄託在「表率人物」—政治領袖身上，因為教育人民是為政者的責任，因而從政治論點上著眼的多於教育論點。雖然從論語孔子教導諸弟子的話中，也可歸納一些教育要點，但是卻很難勾勒出一個完整的教育體系。在孟子中出現了一些說到教育的，如學校、如方法，在分量上教育仍然不似政治之多而明顯。到了荀子才見出以詩書禮樂為宗，以禮義法貫穿論理，強調師法禮義的教育主張，然而仍舊不能說已經完成了儒家全部的教育思想。儒家教育思想的完成和體系，必須從禮記和大戴去尋繹，然而如此總將難免招致許多非議，不得不用一些篇幅來加以解釋。

Dealing with Confucius educational thoughts， basic resource used is always the Analects， but as Confucius taught his disciples with Six Arts， which were either reorganized or revised by him， his doctrine should be consistent with them. In the Analects， Confucius made many remarks about the Six Arts. Therefore， to understand Confucius educational thoughts， other sources such as the Great Learning， the Doctrine of the Mean， and Propriety ought to be included. Propriety is one of the classics entitled The Book of Rites. The Book of Rites appeared in Han Dynasty， about five hundred years after Confucius death. It was said the book had been supplemented by later unknown people. If the saying is true， such unknown people might be Confucius contemporaries. It could be considered came from Confucius with the above mentioned resources. Anyhow till then a system of educational thoughts of Confucius schools of education is completed. Some major points can be drawn from them.