论荀悦的历史哲学思想

荀悦的历史哲学思想是复杂的。他以正统思想审视历史,通过总结西汉的兴衰成败,美化其统治,神化其地位,为东汉王朝提供历史借鉴;他以变易思想考察历史,认为社会是发展变化的,各种制度应适应时代与社会的变化而变化,强调分析事物应注意其相对性,对具体问题应具体分析;他既受天人感应思想的深刻影响,又试图从人事来考察灾异大量出现的原因,指出民为治国的根本所在,从而将天人感应思想与民本思想结合起来;他以儒家思想作为评价人物与评判史事的标准,反映出东汉学者师圣体经的经学思维方式。荀悦的历史哲学思想值得认真研究与总结。

On Xun Yues Philosophical Approach to History

Xun Yue’s philosophical approach to history was complex. He viewed history from an orthodox perspective. He sum marized the rise and fall of the West Han Dynasty, praising its reign and apotheosizing its historical position, so as to provide historical references for the rule of the East Han Dynasty. He took a developing view of history: the society was developing and changing while different systems changed accordingly. He emphasized the relativity in an analysis of what happened, i.e. to analyze a problem in its specific context of situation. On the one hand, he was deeply influenced by the thought of nature-human telepathy. On the other hand, he attempted to find out the causes to the occurrence of many disasters from the perspective of personnel affairs while pointing out peo ple as the essence in governing a country. Therefore, he combined the thought of nature-human telepathy with that of taking people as essence. Moreover, he took Confucianism as the criterion for evaluating a historical figure or event. It is thus shown that the East Han scholars derived their way of thinking from classicism. In short, Xun Yue’s philosophical approach to history is worth summarizing and studying.