摘要
严复于其原创成分较多的《天演论》一书之中,不止排斥社会达尔文主义、否定“天行”的“丛林法则”逻辑在“人治”层面上的运用,而更是倡导一种荀式“制天用天”精神。但与其荀式主旋律貌似相冲突的是,《天演论》通篇使用“固有之良”“天良”等概念以指代人性,这又似是一种孟式的人性论。实际上严复于《天演论》实现的,是统合两种演化机制——即“慈幼者仁之本”的亲缘选择与“制自营以保群”的群体选择——并强调“天行”与“人治”的“异物同归”关系,于是初步调和了荀式“善群”思想与孟式“非由外铄”的“固有之良”。
In his largely original work Tianyan Lun,Yan Fu repudiates Social Darwinism and argues that the“law of the jungle”that characterizes the“operations of Tian”is not applicable to the“human order.”He also advocates for a Xunzian spirit of“overseeing and using Tian.”However,seemingly in contradiction to the primarily Xunzian themes of the Tianyan Lun,Yan deploys phrases like“innate goodness”and“Tian-bequeathed goodness”throughout the work to refer to human nature,which seems much more in line with Mencian theories of human nature.In fact,what Yan Fu achieves in the Tianyan Lun is the integration of two different evolutionary mechanisms:kin selection,by which“love of one's young is the root of human-heartedness,”and group selection,by which“groups are preserved through curbing self-serving propensities.”Yan also emphasizes that the“operations of Tian”and the“human order”share a common derivation,despite being non-identical.In performing this integration,Yan Fu effects a preliminary reconciliation between Xunzian thought on the good functioning of the group and Mencian thought on the“innate goodness”which is“not infused from without.”
作者
Jordan B.Martin(the Yuelu Academy at Hunan University)
出处
《孔学堂》
CSSCI
2023年第4期89-99,181-198,共29页
Confucian Academy
关键词
严复
孟荀人性论
《天演论》
亲缘选择
群体选择
Yan Fu
Mencius
Xunzi
theory of human nature
Tianyan Lun
kin selection
group selection
作者简介
马兆仁(Jordan B.Martin),哲学博士,湖南大学岳麓书院助理研究员(湖南长沙410082)。E-mail:jordanmartin8@hotmail.com
