试析仁义内外之辨

后世学者多用“人心内外”来解说告子的“仁内义外”。认为告子主张“仁爱之心生于内,而事物之宜(义)由乎外”;而孟子则相信“仁义礼智根于心”,“非由外铄我也”。因此,孟告争论的焦点是道德情操,特别是“义”德的发生问题。其实,这是一种误判。告子所持的仁内义外说,不是说仁出于内心,义起于外物,不属于道德发生论的范畴,而只是叙说了仁义的施行范围之别。

On the Discrimination of Ren and Yi as in an Outer-inner Structure

Later scholars often interpret Gaozi’s “inner ren and outer yi” with “the inner and outer of mind”. They consider that Gaozi insists that “the kindheartedness grows from the inner, and the properness of thing generates from the outer”, and Mengzi believes that “benevolence, unrighteousness, courtesy and wisdom all originate in mind”. Thus, the focus of the debates between Mengzi and Gaozi is the morality, especially the generation of “yi”. Actually, that is a kind of misjudgment. The proposition of “inner ren and outer yi” held by Gaozi doesn’t mean that ren originates in the inner mind, and yi originates in the outer things, which belongs to the field of moral geneticism. It just describes the discrimination of ren and yi on the limits of performance.