老子的“自然性”道德与义利观

在中国伦理思想史上,义、利问题向来为思想家们所重视。自先秦以来,围绕义、利关系发生过几次义利之辩。就老子的义利思想来看,由于作为其立论基础的"道"、"德"有别于儒家道德的人伦性,具有鲜明的自然性特点,因此,老子的义利观在路数上就显示出与孔子很大的不同。笼统地认为老子"义利俱轻",否定义和利,乃是忽略了老子道德的自然性这样一个立论基础,是以孔子及其儒家强调人伦性的义利观标准去衡量老子的结果。

Lao-tzu’s Views of Righteousness and Benefit in the Light of Naturalism

Righteousness and benefit have always been the major concerns for the thinkers in the history of Chinese ethics.Since the Qin Dynasty,several debates have been initiated about the relation between righteousness and benefit.Lao-tzu’s viewpoints of righteousness and benefit bear salient features of naturalism as they develop from Taoism and morality,which are different from the Confucius ones.If we think that Lao-tzu ignores righteousness and benefit in a non-specific way,we skip the basis of naturalism for Taoism and weighs Lao-tzu’s views with the Confucius ones which put emphasis on human relations.