[Keywords:] Ren; Friendship; Confucius; Aristotle
Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, Volume VIII, Chapter VII, has such a sentence:
"Another kind of friendship is subordinate friendship, such as father to son. Generally speaking, old people to young people and men to women all dominate the people. " 〔 1〕p 187
In chapter 12 of the same volume, there is another sentence: "The affection of relatives is varied, but it all comes from the father's love." [ 1](P 195)
Readers in China may be puzzled by these two sentences: there may be old friendships (forgetting to make friends); There may also be friendship between men and women and between superiors and subordinates (Aristotle's "master" and "subordinate"), which is generally called friendship now; But how can the affection between father and son be called friendship? How can we derive the love of all kinds of relatives from the love of fathers? If the reader is willing to compare the English version, he will find that all the words corresponding to "friendship" are English friendship, then his doubts will deepen.
Are there any mistakes in both Chinese and English translations? We don't know about English translation, but what is certain is that all the translations I have seen are authoritative [1]. The translator is Mr Miao. He once talked with Mr Shi Yang about the translation of this word. [2](P3 1) He said that it takes a lot of effort to translate this word. The Greek word for this word is philia, which comes from the verb phileo (love) and its gerund form is philos. It is said that this word is no stranger to us, such as philosophy, which means philos plus wisdom, meaning "love wisdom". English translators translate philia into friendship, which is the usual translation. Mr. Miao didn't translate it into "friendship" in English, but translated it into "friendship" to express the original meaning of the word philia. Mr Miao's intentions are very good (see below for details). Although readers in China are still puzzled when reading, translation is essentially an explanation, because a word in A language can never be found in B language. ..
I found this problem when I was reading Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, and I didn't pay much attention to it at first. Later, when I read The Analects of Confucius, I found that Aristotle's "friendliness" and Confucius' "benevolence" have the same effect, which is very enlightening. The author understands that China scholars have published Aristotle's treatise on friendship [2], and of course there are countless works about Confucius' benevolence. However, no one has compared these two words and pretended to be this sketch. If there is anything wrong, please let me know.
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There are dozens of notes about "benevolence" in the Confucian classic The Analects, but their meanings are different. It is generally believed in academic circles that "benevolence" is the core of Confucius and even the whole Confucianism. Regarding the central meaning of "benevolence", everyone's views are roughly the same, and the following three items are often cited:
Ask Ren. Confucius said, "Love." (The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan) [3](P5 1 1)
Benevolent people, people are also, and relatives are the biggest. (The Mean) [4](P 1629)
Ren is also a human being. In short, Tao is also. (Mencius) [5](P977)
The first is Confucius. The second is that Zisi quoted Confucius. Thirdly, Mencius' viewpoint is obviously based on Zi Si's viewpoint. Therefore, these three interpretations of "benevolence" come down in one continuous line. Zi Si and Mencius affirmed that "the benevolent also" means exactly the same as "the benevolent loves others". Why do you see it?
"The Doctrine of the Mean": "People are benevolent." Zheng Xuan's Note: "People are also like people who study like dolls, and they ask questions with their hearts." [4] (P1269) What does "doll" mean here? Mr Liu Jiahe explained, "The doll is a person in the same position. They salute with the same courtesy. They ask each other questions or respect each other, that is, treat each other with courtesy. " [6](P30) The central meaning of this explanation is that "benevolence" means treating people as people.
Let's look at the explanation of the word "benevolence" in Shuo Wen Jie Zi Ren Bu: "Benevolence, affinity. From people to two. " [7] (P 16 1) Duan Yucai's Note: "See the Department: Familiarity." [8](P365)
People regard others as people like themselves, so people are naturally "close" ("close"), that is, "love". On the contrary, if people don't treat others as human beings, people will naturally be alienated, but when they develop to extremes, they will hate each other.
The above is an examination of the meaning of words, and the following is an analysis of the reasons.
Confucius strongly advocated "benevolence", that is, asking people to "love" Why do people "love each other"? Although The Analects of Confucius does not directly talk about this truth, it indirectly implies this truth. Confucius said, "Birds and beasts cannot be in the same group. I am not a follower of Sri Lanka, but who is with me? " There are roads in the world, but hills are not easy. [3](P723) This is a sentence that Confucius advised him to "avoid the world" when traveling in seclusion, which means that people can only be in a group with others. The implication is that you can only live in seclusion in the mountains and live in groups with birds and animals. If everyone does this, human society will cease to exist. This is the inevitability of human groups from the negative side; On the positive side, the Analects of Confucius said nothing, but later the Confucian master Xunzi made it very clear:
"If the strength is not strong, if you can't walk, if you can use horses and cattle, why? Yue: People can group, but not group. How do people group? Say: points. How can we do that? Yue: righteousness. Therefore, justice is divided into two parts, one is stronger, and the other is stronger than the other, so the Palace Museum can take it. Therefore, the order of the four seasons, cutting everything and benefiting the world, has nothing to do with this, but also has a meaning. Therefore, life cannot be without groups. Without groups, there is struggle, without points, there is chaos, chaos is separation, and separation is weakness. If you are weak, you can't win. The Palace Museum can't do without it. You can't give up courtesy for a while. " (Xunzi Wang Zhi) [9](P 164-5)
This passage has two meanings. First, people are born without groups, because the same group means "strength", "strength is strong" and "strength is superior to things", that is, overcoming the surrounding nature and achieving the purpose of survival. There is a simple reason. Second, survival is only the minimum requirement of people, and people also pursue social harmony and people's happiness. Xunzi believes that people should have "differences" (differences), and "differences" should be realized by "righteousness", so talents will have "harmony" (harmony is different), so "harmony is one" and harmony brings social unity. What is the "righteousness" that Xunzi said? To answer this question, we must first understand that Xunzi's thought actually comes from Confucius. The words recorded in The Analects of Confucius [3]: "The use of courtesy is the most precious. Wang Zhidao is the first, Sri Lanka is beautiful; Small and big. If you can't do it, then knowing and combining is not feasible. Don't mention it. " [3](P29) What is harmony? Mr. Qian Mu explained: "Courtesy is the main respect if we make all kinds of differences between people." In fact, courtesy and harmony are just mixed with all kinds of people. [10](P 17) Mr. Qian means that "Li" seems to be "different", but its spiritual essence is "harmony" (and). Therefore, Xunzi's "righteousness" is "ceremony". Originally, meaning (in the traditional sense), I also (Dong Zhongshu said), [8] (P633) Ye Yi (meaning, appropriate rhyme, homophonic) means "I should", that is, people must fulfill their moral obligations in society. Rites and expressions include not only the bottom etiquette, but also the high-level ethics (that is, "righteousness"). There is an overlap between the two. Therefore, Xunzi's "courtesy" and "righteousness" are linked in many places. For example:
"Your husband is the son of heaven, rich in the world, this is the same desire of human feelings. But from the perspective of human desire, things can't be tolerated and things can't be entrusted. So I did the case of the former king to divide the ceremony. The difference between nobility and inferiority, between old age and youth, between knowledge and stupidity, between ability and impossibility ... "("Honor and Disgrace ") [9](P70)
Obviously, in this passage, "ceremony divides righteousness" and "ceremony" is synonymous with "righteousness".
To sum up, I think Confucius' "benevolence" has three points worthy of attention: first, human gregarious is a historical and realistic phenomenon; In everyone, there is an instinct to get together, which is manifested in "blind date" and "love" between people. Secondly, Confucius realized this instinct and phenomenon through reflection on life; Thirdly, on this basis, he put forward the concept of "benevolence" and formed his own theory with other concepts such as "courtesy", "filial piety" and "loyalty". This theory with "benevolence" as the core aims to realize the ideal of social harmony and people's happiness on the basis of maintaining human survival.
Let's look at Aristotle's Friendship again. As mentioned above, "friendship" is translated from the Greek word "philia". Long before Aristotle, empedocles, a natural philosopher in ancient Greece, believed that everything, from the sun, moon and stars to human limbs and remains, was the result of four elements (water, fire, air and earth) under the action of two forces: love and hate. [11] (p 815-6) The so-called "love" is the binding force and "hate" is the separation force. The word "philotes" here is obviously homologous to philein and phileo in Greek, both of which mean love or friendship in English. [12](P747) If we explore the concept of "Philotes" more deeply, it was not initiated by empedocles, and its source is very old (see Wang Zisong and others: History of Greek Philosophy, Volume I, Section 4, cited above).
Aristotle is familiar with empedocles's theory, and he thinks whether this view can be established in nature is still a difficult problem. [1](P 178-9) He clearly pointed out in another book [④] Great Ethics: "Some people think that there is love for God and inanimate objects, but their views are incorrect. We say that friendship only exists where love can be returned ... Therefore, we are not talking about love for God, nor love for inanimate objects, but love for living things and those living things that can be returned. " [1] (p 341) Obviously, what Aristotle called "those creatures" refers to people. In this way, he applied the concept of friendship to the social field. He said: "It is natural that the fertility is friendly to the fertility, or the fertility is friendly to the fertility. Not only people, birds and many wild animals are no exception. Members of the same species love each other, especially humans. Therefore, people who love others are praised. You can see more clearly when you go out. It seems that all people love each other. Friendship connects the polis, and legislators pay more attention to friendship than justice. Their purpose is to strengthen friendship and unity on the one hand, and to eliminate hatred and opposition on the other. " [1] (p178) It can be seen that Aristotle realized that not only people, but also some animals live in groups, and they are friendly with each other (the words quoted by Confucius before also refer to birds and animals living in groups). In other places, he has said many times that people are animals used to living in groups. In politics, he said ... human beings are born animals inclined to the life of the city-state. [13] (p7) added: "Human beings are naturally gregarious." [13](P9) In Nicomachean Ethics, he said: "Man is a political animal, and he was born to live a harmonious life." [1](P2 18) According to the so-called "politics", English is politics, its etymology is the ancient Greek word polis, and "political animals" are "city-state animals". The so-called polis is a form of social organization (also translated as "isomorphism") [14](P3). Aristotle pointed out: "polis is the highest and most extensive social group." [ 13](P3)
So, what is the purpose of human forming groups? From the previous analysis, we know that the first thing should be human survival. Aristotle put it this way: "... every isolated individual is not enough to feed himself, and must be assembled in the whole polis [so that everyone can meet his own needs]." Anyone who is isolated from the polis-or who is despised by secular society and cannot get the convenience of the combination of human society, or who despises the combination of secular society because of arrogance and complacency-is either an animal or a god. " [ 13](P9)
This goal is the minimum requirement of human beings, so Aristotle also said that "the purpose of all social groups is always to complete some kind of good deeds-in their own view, their original intention is always to seek a good result." [13] (P3) Accordingly, the Latin writing of "good karma" and "good fruit" here is agathon, and the English translation is good. [15] (p54) Chinese translation is another word-"goodness". What is goodness? Ordinary people's understanding focuses too much on morality, so it is better to translate it into neutral "good" and evil. Aristotle himself has an explanation: "... self-sufficiency seems to be perfect goodness." By self-sufficiency, we don't mean that we live alone, but that we have both parents and wives, living with friends and compatriots, because human nature is political. ..... Now we advocate self-sufficiency, that is, waiting for nothing to make life happy and not feel lacking. This is what we call happiness. " [1] (p14-5) This passage tells us that goodness means "self-sufficiency", and "self-sufficiency" means "inaction", that is, happiness. The so-called "waiting and waiting" is the harmony of things or people themselves.
It can be seen that both Confucius and Aristotle realized that human beings live in the same group for survival, so everyone has an instinct to live in groups. On this basis, they put forward the concepts of "benevolence" and "friend" respectively. At the same time, human beings belong to the same group in order to live a happy life. They all think that the essence of this happy life is social harmony. The function of "ceremony" is to achieve harmony; The so-called pursuit of "goodness" is also to achieve harmony.
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Readers may still remember two sentences of Aristotle quoted at the beginning of this article. Aristotle called the love between father and son "friendship". What is this? What does it have to do with Confucius' benevolence?
To avoid being taken out of context, please allow me to quote a long passage from him:
"The affection of relatives is varied, but it all comes from the father's love. Parents regard their children as part of themselves and take good care of them, while children regard their parents as the source of their existence. Parents know more about their children, and people born know less about their children. Compared with pregnant women, pregnant women are more attached to pregnant women, and pregnant women belong to pregnant women. Just as things like teeth and hair belong to their owners. Fertility is not fertility, or less fertility. Parents love their children for longer. Children are taken care of at birth. Children need time to understand and feel their parents. From what has been said above, we can understand why mothers have such strong love. Children love their offspring as themselves (they come from themselves and they are separated from themselves). Children love their parents and regard them as their source. Brothers love each other because they are born from their parents. This mutual recognition related to them has caused their mutual love. From this people say that blood is connected, flesh and blood is connected, and so on. In other words, they are the same existence in a sense, but they are scattered. This kind of friendship is increased by the influence of * * * and the similarity of age, because the similarity of age means blind date and partners have the same habits. So the fraternity between brothers is similar to the fraternity between brothers. Relatives such as uncles and uncles are also from the same ancestor, and they are far and near from their ancestors to distinguish their relatives and friends. " [ 1](P 195-6)
After reading this passage, we have a strong feeling: how similar Aristotle's "kinship" is to Confucius' "filial piety"! Do a simple comparative analysis in the next interview.
Benevolence is the core of Confucianism, and Confucianism also attaches great importance to filial piety. The Analects of Confucius recorded the words of Confucius' disciples: "He is also a filial brother, but he is prone to make mistakes, which is rare." It's not easy to make mistakes, but it's not easy to make mistakes. Gentleman's business is based on inheritance and Taoism. Filial piety is also the foundation of benevolence? "("Xue Ji ") [3](P5-7) Zhu Zhu Zhu, Note: Ben has roots. [16](P48) Zhu Zhu is a good hint. This is like saying that a tree without roots can't absorb nutrients from the soil, so it can't survive and grow. It can be seen that "filial piety" is the basis of "benevolence", and "benevolence" is the display of the potential of "filial piety" (we can think that if there is anything, it is the explanation of the teacher's meaning, and we will talk about it after "brother"). But what is the reason? There is no direct saying in The Analects. Mr. Qian Mu believes that "benevolence" is "a kind of warmth and goodwill between people." [10](P7) Mr. Feng Youlan has a similar view. He said: "Benevolence is based on people's true temperament and true feelings." [17](P 132) "Filial piety" is the expression of children's sincere feelings for their parents. Starting from cultivating this true feeling, we can achieve "benevolence" to others by pushing ourselves and others. It can be said that with "filial piety", the feelings and further feelings of all other relatives have been settled.
Let's look at Aristotle's similar point of view. Aristotle said: "The affection of relatives is varied, but it all comes from the father's love." It can be seen that "fatherly love" is the core of family affection. Why? Because there are parents, there are children, that is, "children love their parents and regard them as their source." Children love their parents, which Confucianism calls "filial piety". Parents have parents, that is, grandparents, and grandparents have parents, that is, great-grandparents, and so on. Children's love will spread to the ancestors of the clan. If it is pushed up from the ancestors, it is the source of the ancestors-God, so the feelings of loving the ancestors and loving God will naturally exist. Aristotle's point of view is no more than that. He said: "There is love for ancestors by future generations and love for God by people. This is kindness and respect for elders. Because their kindness is the reason for the existence of future generations, it is the feeding and education at birth. " [1] (p196) Similarly, Aristotle said that children's love for their parents also extends to their brothers and sisters.
Confucius and later Confucianists often associate "filial piety" with "filial piety", which is subordinate to "filial piety". As mentioned earlier, "filial piety is the foundation of benevolence." For another example, Confucius said: "Disciples are filial when they enter, and filial when they leave. They are sincere and believe. They have always loved people, but they are kind. " [3](P 18) Why? The Analects of Confucius didn't say it directly. Aristotle explained: "Brothers love each other because of their parents' nature. This mutual recognition related to them has caused their mutual love. From this people say that blood is connected, flesh and blood is connected, and so on. It can also be said that they are the same existence in a sense, but they are scattered. "
Since brotherhood originates from the love between father and son, it can be extrapolated to uncles, brothers and other relatives, which is what Confucius called "being outside". Aristotle also said that ... fraternity between brothers is similar to fraternity between brothers. Therefore, uncles, brothers and other relatives are close. Because they come from the same ancestor, because their ancestors are near or far away, they are different from each other. "In this way, from ancestors, gods, brothers, father and son" friendship "runs through it. I think this is one of the most similar parts between Aristotle's ethics and Confucianism.
Confucianism always emphasizes filial piety, giving people the impression of advocating unequal father-son relationship. What is the basis for this? Confucius said in response to Zai Yu's question about "three years of mourning": "... the son was born for three years, and then he was freed from his parents' arms." (Yang Huo) That's all. Aristotle told the whole story: "Parents take their children as part of themselves and take good care of them. Parents love their children for longer. Children are taken care of as soon as they are born, and it takes some time to understand and feel their parents. " In another place, he added, "If you pay your debts, your son can't pay off what he owes his father, so he is a debtor forever. The creditor can forgive the debtor's debt, so the father can disown his son. " [1] (P200) It can be seen that both Confucius and Aristotle think that the son of a father is more important than the son of a son.
Of course, the friendship between father and son is not a simple exchange of interests. Aristotle said: "Friendship is an activity. There is no other purpose except the activity of love. On the contrary, it is the purpose. " [1] (P350) So did Confucius' original intention. I want to change three years of mourning to one year, but Confucius is not satisfied and you're welcome. It means that three years of parental support (not to mention more than three years) can't change your three-year mourning? Confucius was very targeted when answering his disciples' questions, and did not mechanically ask people to exchange "three years of mourning" for "three years of support"
What is the reason why Confucianism strongly advocates filial piety? It is not easy to understand from the classics alone. Aristotle's point of view is quite helpful to our understanding.
In the Great Ethics, he said: "In a sense, the father is always more active, because his son is some kind of creation, and we see that this situation is also true in other aspects; Because everyone has an affinity for their own creation. Therefore, a father has a certain intimacy with his son just like his own creation, which is guided by memories and expectations. Therefore, a father loves his son more than his son loves his father. " [1] (P350) Aristotle means that love between father and son is an instinct.
He said more clearly in Utomo Ethics: "Even in animals, the instinct to take care of their young makes them reproduce and protect their offspring. Fathers love children more (of course, mothers love children more than fathers), not children love fathers more, and so on. Children love their children more than their parents ... "[1] (p449) There are fewer parents who don't love their children, but there are more children who are unfilial to their parents and love them very much. The reason is that parents love their children ("kindness" as Confucianism says) by instinct and need not advocate it; Although children's filial piety to their parents stems from instinct, it is not as strong as their parents' love, so it should be strongly advocated.
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Let's go back to the word "friendship". Obviously, Aristotle used it in a very broad sense. It includes the love between all people, as well as the love between family members (including all personal relationships motivated by mutual love and the relationships between family members). [12] (P397) The English translation of friendship has no such broad meaning, but the meaning of friendship is prominent, and Aristotle's philia also includes subordinate love. So is the translation of Chinese "friendship" appropriate? In modern Chinese, friendship obviously cannot contain subordinate love. From this point of view, Mr. Miao endowed the word with other meanings.
It is worth noting that as early as the 1920s, Mr. Xiang Da took the lead in translating Aristotle's Ethics into Chinese, and he translated philia into "friendship". 1933 The Commercial Press published Mr. Yan Qun's Aristotle's Ethical Thought [18], in which he talked about Phileas translation:
The word "love" is φ ι λ in Greek? α, translated into English as friendship or love, friendship is a word and a friend; Love whatever you say. English, you can't do it at the same time, you must choose one. Therefore, weldon's translation is also called "friend" or "love". Although the word "or" is ambiguous, it is different from the words "soldier", "harmony" and "he", which means either one or the other and one must be chosen. Translate φ ι λ with friendship? α is the orthodox method, but φ ι λ? α real φ ι λ ε? The meaning of the word υ (love) is therefore called friendship or love. In Chinese, the word friendship can be combined into one word, so φ ι λ? The meaning of the word α can remain unchanged. [ 18](P 109)
Press, φ ι λ? Alpha is Filja.
Mr Yan Qun is very considerate. I think Miss Miao means something like this, that is, to supplement the word "friend" with the word "love".
In this part of this article, the author wants to discuss the meaning of "you" in the pre-Qin era. This is not to argue about the length of a word translation, but to arouse our deeper thinking. However, the "discussion" here mainly borrows the research results of Mr. Liu Jiahe.
First of all, there are many "friends" in The Analects, such as "People without friends are not as good as themselves" and "Making friends" (learning to learn), but it is not easy to analyze the meaning of friends only from this classic.
Mr. Liu discussed in detail the concept of friends in the pre-Qin era in the articles Shu Zi Cai and A Trial Interpretation of Human Calendar. He believes that the ancient concept of friends is very different from later generations and must be understood in historical geography. Friends in the pre-Qin era have the following characteristics: 1, friends are partners who work together; 2. Friends fight side by side and help each other in military activities; 3, "Shuo Wen Jie Zi You Bu": "Comrades are friends". But at that time, blood relationship still played a very important role in society. "Comrade" refers to "the same clan" and "the same surname"; 4. Married people with different surnames can also be called friends, so friends are not limited to the same surname and the same family. 5. Friends also refer to courtiers (the conclusion quoted above is not superfluous) [19] (p170-1). Mr. Liu finally concluded:
"... it can be seen that man (friend) is the" man "of the ancient city-state. They are citizens of the same city-state, bound by the same family, the same surname or different surnames. ..... They are subjects in the polis, not followers of the polis. ”[ 19](P 172)
In this way, what is the goodwill between the "people" (friends) of this city-state besides "friendship"? And Aristotle's so-called "friendship of subordination" and "friendship of relatives" are not easy to understand? It seems appropriate to translate Phileas into "friendship", but there was no word "friendship" in the pre-Qin period, but there was the word "benevolence". Having said that, I think of an English book suggested by the famous American scholar john rawls in a lecture at 1973. Aristotle's Filja should be translated into "attachment" [20] (P 14 1), which means "attachment, admiration and attachment", just like the above. However, the translators in China didn't expect to translate filia into "benevolence", or didn't have such an understanding, or felt that there was still a big difference between them. Anyway, Chinese translation has done its best.
Translation ends here. Mr. Liu's research also gives us an important enlightenment: it is no accident that "benevolence" and "friend" are so similar, and its root lies in the similarity of social structure and development process between pre-Qin and ancient Greece. But this is a big topic, and its demonstration is beyond the scope of this paper. I just want to point out one thing here, that is, the important position of consanguinity in ancient society. Before the Spring and Autumn Period, there was a solid patriarchal clan system, that is, blood relationship and political system were integrated. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, although the patriarchal clan system gradually disintegrated, the factors of blood relationship have penetrated into all aspects of social life. Even in the vast rural areas of China today, living in groups is still a common phenomenon. In ancient Greece, the situation was similar. During Solon's reform, Athens was composed of four blood tribes. Although Cleisthenes holds elections in units of tribes in ten regions, there is no doubt that consanguineous factors exist for a long time. Aristotle analyzed in the first volume of Politics that the family is the most basic unit, from home to village, from village to country (Aristotle has no concept of "tribe"). It can be seen that the actual situation at that time was roughly the same.
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The title of this paper is "Comparison", but so far it only briefly analyzes the similarities between the two concepts of "benevolence" and "friend", and says nothing about the differences, which is limited to space (allowing another article to discuss it specifically); On the other hand, it is precisely because of this consideration that scholars who study the history of ethics either specialize in China or the West, and rarely compare the two, so I didn't expect these two concepts to be so similar. But comparative study has its advantages, that is, Party A can be used to understand Party B; Or vice versa, as a result of Dallas going to the auditorium, we have deepened our understanding of both sides. As mentioned above, Confucius' "benevolence" is vague or difficult to understand in some places, but it can be well explained by Aristotle's friendship theory; However, people's doubts about Aristotle's so-called "subordinate friendship" are dispelled by discussing the concept of filial piety in the pre-Qin period. Of course, the basis of this comparison is the similarity of social structure and development process between pre-Qin and ancient Greece. This paper only discusses the similarities and differences, and only wants to put forward a new research idea, hoping to play a role in attracting jade.