中英雙語話中國歷史名人 第31期:孔子

Confucius(551 B. C.~479 B. C.), born at Zouyi (south-east of the present Qufu, Shandong Province), whose given name was Qiu and courtesy name Zhongni, was the founder of Confucianism.

孔子(公元前551年~公元前479年)，名丘，字仲尼，魯國陬邑(今山東曲阜東南)人，孺家創始人，被後世尊稱爲“聖人”。

As one of the greatest thinkers and educators in the history of China, Confucius' legacy lies in the following three aspects.

作爲中國歷史上偉大的思想家與教育家，孔子的貢獻主要體現在三個方面。

Firstly, he compiled and preserved literary works of three generations. The six documents (The Six Classics) under his compilation, including Shi (The Book of Songs), Shu (Collection of Ancient Texts), Li (The Rites ), Yue (The Music), Yi (I Ching, or The Book of Changes), and Chun Qiu (The Spring and Autumn Annuals), are considered as the classics of Confucianism. This accomplishment makes an enormous impact on the succession and development of the traditional Chinese culture.

第一，對三代文化的整理與保存。他整理了《詩》、《書》、《禮》、《樂》、《易》、《春秋》6部文獻，被後代奉爲儒家經典，合稱“六經”，爲傳統文化的繼承與發展作出了巨大貢獻。

Secondly, Confucius established a system of philosophical thoughts with "ren"(benevolence) as its fundamental virtue. This virtue is the central theme of his Analecrs.

第二，建立了一套以“仁”爲核心的思想體系，這集中體現在記錄他一生言行的《論語》一書中。

As a moral and ethical system, ren focuses on human love that is hierarchical and differentiated.

“仁”是一種道德境界與倫理體系，核心內容是提倡一種多層次、有差別的人類之愛。

Thus Confucius created his version of humanism.

孔子的“仁”是對“人”的發現，自他開始，人們才把“仁”由外在規範轉化爲一種內在自覺。

Based on ren, Confucius objected to the fantastic powers that confused the human spirit. He took a skeptical and indifferent attitude toward religion and further developed his humanistic ideas.

以“仁”爲基礎，孔子反對“怪力亂神”，對天命鬼神采取了懷疑和冷漠的態度，由天命神學轉到了人本思想，並進一步發展了民本主義思想。

Confucius' concept of li refers to a set of ritual and musical systems, with the hierarchical system as its core.

孔子也講“禮”，禮是禮樂制度，核心內容是等級制度。

Ren and li are complementary: Ii is the exterior principle of ren while ren is li's intrinsic guiding power. To accomplish ren, one must abide by li, while ren will be naturally generated in the process of practicing li.

禮與仁互爲表裏，禮是仁的外在規則，仁是禮的內在指導因素。要達到仁，必先合乎禮，在反覆實踐禮的過程中自然會產生仁。

Fundamentally, the purpose of Confucius' li is to restore the traditional rifles of the Zhou Dynasty.

孔子講“仁”的根本目的是維護與恢復周禮。

Thirdly, Confucius established private schools and founded a systematic educational framework.

第三，興辦私學，創立了科學的教育思想體系。

He maintained the idea that everyone has the right to be educated despite class differences. In teaching practice, Confucius adopted flexible teaching methods which involve the combinations of learning and thinking, learning and reviewing as well as teaching and learning. He strived for educating students in accordance with their aptitude and adopted a heuristic style of teaching.

孔子提出“有教無類”，認爲人人都應該受教育。在教育實踐中創立了靈活多樣的教學方法，提倡“學”與“思”的結合、學習與複習的結合以及教與學的結合，講求因材施教和啓發式教學等等。

These philosophical thoughts are still valuable in application today.

這些思想，直到今天還有其現實意義。