世界轴心时代的诗学双峰——与亚里士多德《诗学》并峙的荀子《乐论》

在世界轴心时代,大约在公元前四世纪到公元前三世纪之间,在诗学的历史上出现了两座并肩而立的高峰:一是古希腊亚里士多德的《诗学》,一是中国战国末期荀子的《乐论》。人论是二人诗学思想的共同出发点,亚里士多德是性善论者,荀子是性恶论。荀子在诗学史上的贡献主要表现在他关于诗的存在论、诗的创作论、诗本与诗象论、诗的价值论几个方面。荀子的诗学思想影响深远,应在世界诗学史上占有一定的位置。

Twin Peaks in the Axial Age: On Xun Zi''''s On Music Paralleled with Aristotle''''s Poetics

Through the history of poetics,two masterpieces appeared during the Axial Age from the 4th to the 3rd Century B.C.: Poetics by Aristotle and On Music by Xun Zi,with the outlook on human nature as the starting point for both of them.While Aristotle believes human beings are good by nature,Xun Zi insists that man is born evil.Xun Zi's important contributions in the history of poetics are embodied in his theories on the ontology,the creation,the essence and form,and the values of poetry.Xun Zi's poetic thought has hence exerted a great impact,thus earning its importance in the of world poetics.