善與至善：論朱子對《大學》闡釋的一個向度

本文認為，朱子對《大學》闡釋最根本的一個向度是《大學》「三綱領」中之「止於至善」。在朱子看來，「至善」不同於一般意義上的「善」，小學的工夫成就的是「善」，使人做一般意義上的好人，而大學則要人「止於至善」，做一個聖人。所謂「止於至善」，它既意味著要將人本有的明德推至極致，使人心不受一毫私欲之沾染；又表現應事接物之際體察入微，不僅不受事物千變萬化所左右而保持吾心之貞定，而且更能將事物之方方面面無不安排得妥當合理。同時，要「止於至善」，工夫上要求無所不用其極，一節接一節而止於至善。在這層層遞進的工夫論體系中，最重要的是格物致知，它是「止於至善」最重要的保證，朱子詮釋《大學》之所以重視格物工夫特色，應落實在這一點上予以考慮。就此而言，格物的目的不在於博學多聞，而在於實踐領域的止於至善，單純以知識論的立場來看朱子的格物論恐怕有所偏差，陸、王「義外」、「支離」等批評也要重新予以審視。

關鍵字

朱子；大學；止於至善；格物

並列摘要

In this paper, we argue that ”abiding in the Highest Good” is a basic interpretive dimension of Great Learning by Zhu Zi (l130-l200). For Zhu Zi, ”the Highest Good” is different than general ”Good”. ”Good” is the result of childhood education. It means for people to be good in a general sense. And, the way of learning to be Great (adult education) intends that people ”abiding in the Highest Good”, to be sages. Socalled ”abiding in the Highest Good” means to push man's original clear character to perfection, and to let people's mind not be infected by any excessive personal desire. The expression of ”abiding in the Highest Good” also means to observe and experience every thing very precisely, not be influenced by changes of things and to keep our mind calm, but also means to arrange things very properly from different sides. Meanwhile, to achieve ”abiding in the Highest Good”, people are requested to resort to every conceivable means, and step by step to arrive at ”abiding in the Highest Good”. In this effort, systematically increasing progressively, the most important thing is investigation of things and extention of knowledge, this is the most important guarantee for ”abiding in the Highest Good”. This is why Zhu Zi thinks much of investigating things when he explains the Great Learning. Therefore, the purpose of investigation of things is not for erudition, but for ”abiding in the Highest Good” in the field of practice; there may be some deviations if people understand Zhu Zi's ”investigation of things” only from the standpoint of intellectualism.