柳宗元对《管子》四维论的解读

把礼、义、廉、耻视为国之四维，提出“四维不张，国乃灭亡”治道思想的是《管子》。历代学者对其持肯定态度，但柳宗元却是例外。他以《管子》释义四维有误、“廉与耻，义之小节”“不得与义抗而为维”为由，论证四维论的提法不确切，进而得出“四维者非管子之言”的结论。实际上，这是一种教条主义的学究式裁断。

Liu Zongyuan's Interpretation of the Four Dimensions in Guan Zi

It is in the book Guan Zi that the Four-Dimension governing theory was put forward,which claims that a country's four dimensions are propriety,justice,honesty and the sense of shame and thata country would be destroyed if these four dimensionscollapse.Most scholars agree on this view,but Liu Zongyuan didn't.He believed that honesty and the sense of shame are negligible to justice and shouldn't be paralleled and therefore the explanation on four-dimension was not right in Guan Zi.He then drew a conclusion th...