荀子天人觀新論

作為自春秋以降人文精神發展的理論化，荀子天人觀在精神旨趣上遙承孔子，在直接的哲學啟示上則更多地來自《周易》。荀子提出「天人之分」，否定了天之作為有意志的位格存在，摒棄了命定論的神秘主義，消除了原始宗教的文化殘餘。進而，荀子肯定了人的主體性，在哲學上爭辯著人之作為價值主體進行文化創造的合法性。然而，荀子天人觀所張揚的主體性與西方近代以來以主客二分為基本特徵的笛卡爾主義（Cartesianism）又有著根本性的分際。在天人關係的層面，荀子所尋求的不是人對天的征服，而是「與天地參」，即人通過道德創造實現自我轉化，進而挺立為與天∕地並立的存在，達致天人之間的平衡與和諧，以期在宇宙論的層面安頓人的存在，消解個體生命的有限性，從而在人文主義的基礎之上肯定了人的超越性向度。準此觀之，荀子意義上的「與天地參」，既不同於巫術文化籠罩之下神人相雜的「神秘的天人合一」，亦不同於儒家內部思孟學派以「道德之天」為基礎的「思辨的天人合一」，且與後世漢儒所謂「感應的天人合一」亦復有異。對此，筆者稱之為「人文的天人合一」。

關鍵字

荀子；天人觀；禮化；天人之分；天人合一

並列摘要

As the theoretical production of the early Chinese Humanism which had developed since the Spring and Autumn Era, Xuncian view of Tian has been inspired by Confucius's humanistic spirit, and has come more directly from the Change 周易. Xunzi put forward the idea of ＂the Division between Heaven and Human＂(Tian Ren Zhi Fen 天人之分), denying the existence of heaven as a willful existence, abandoning the mysticism of the definitive theory and eliminating the cultural remnants of primitive religion. Furthermore, Xunzi affirmed the subjectivity of man, and philosophically argued the legitimacy of human being as the subject of value for cultural creation. However, Xuncian conception of subjectivity is fundamentally different from Cartesian's philosophy which is characterized by the dichotomy of subject and object. At the level of the relationship between heaven and man, what Xunzi seeks is not to conquest the Heaven, but to ＂be the Three with Heaven and Earth＂(與天地參), that is, try to achieve self-transformation through self-cultivation, and then construct the harmony relationship between Tian and Human. By doing so, Xunzi settles human existence in the cosmological level and thus affirms the transcendental dimension of Confucian life on the basis of humanism.