仁是儒學的重要概念,儒學的各家各派無不論仁,但具體方式并不相同。孔子、孟子所論之仁有明顯的先在性和逆覺性的特征。荀子不承認仁有天生的因素,不了解化性起偽的結果在處理倫理道德問題之前早已存在了,更不明白逆覺是求仁的根本之法,其所論之仁只與善或道德同義,不具有道德本體的性質。切不可因為荀子也講仁,就認為其思想系統中包含性善的因素,否則很容易失去學理的邊界。后人所說的"大本已失",意在批評荀子學理道德本體立不起來,而其實質則是仁性已失。這一批評有很強的合理性,不能輕易否定。

As an important concept of Confucianism,ren is discussed by its different schools using different approaches.Confucius and Mencius’s discussion of ren highlights pre-existence and inward intuition particularly.Xunzi neither admits ren’s innateness nor understands that the result of"transforming the inborn nature and developing the acquired nature"(huaxing qiwei化性起偽) existed before the moment at which ethical and moral issues are dealt with.What is more,he does not even understand that inward intuition is the fundamental way to seek ren.Therefore,the ren discussed by Xunzi is a concept synonymous with goodness or morality,in which there is no property of moral substance.It is important to highlight the boundary between the thinking of Mencius and Xunzi,though they both discuss ren.