文质彬彬·每日好词语｜知人论世

整理/秦珍子 制图/张玉佳

　　知人论世

　　了解他人、讨论他人所处的时代。由孟子提出。孟子主张，人们应广泛地结交各类优秀人物。除了与同世之人为友，还可以结识古人，通过阅读古人遗留的典籍了解其学说、观点。同时，还需要在此基础上“知人论世”，考察其学说背后的为人行事，并理解其所处时代带来的影响。

　　Know Others and Discuss Their World

　　This concept was coined by Mencius, who advocated that one should make friends with a wide range of outstanding people. In addition to befriending contemporaries, one could also get acquainted with the ancients, reading the canonical texts left behind by them in order to understand their doctrines, ideas, and views. In addition, he considered it necessary to "know others and discuss the circumstances they are in," and on this basis to examine what kinds of people they were, so as to understand their theories and how they were influenced by the circumstances they lived in.

　　引 例

　　孟子谓万章曰：“一乡之善士斯友一乡之善士，一国之善士斯友一国之善士，天下之善士斯友天下之善士。以友天下之善士为未足，又尚论古之人。颂其诗，读其书，不知其人，可乎？是以论其世也，是尚友也。”（《孟子·万章下》）（孟子对万章说：“一乡里的优秀人物便结交那一乡里的优秀人物，一国中的优秀人物便结交那一国中的优秀人物，天下的优秀人物便结交天下的优秀人物。结交天下的优秀人物还不够，又进一步讨论古代的人物。吟诵其所作的诗篇，阅读其所著的著作，但却不知其为人，可以吗？因此要讨论其身处的时代。这就是上溯古人而与之为友。”）

　　Mencius said to Wan Zhang, "An accomplished person in a village shall make friends with other accomplished people in the village; the same is true with a state and the world. It is not enough for an accomplished person to build friendship with all other accomplished people. He should ascend to get to know the people of antiquity. He repeats their poems, and reads their books, but he does not know what they were as people. To ascertain this, he considers the circumstances they were in. This means to ascend and make friends with the people of antiquity." (Mencius)

来源：中国青年报