在眾多的東方思想中，儒家思想被認為是其中最重要之一，而孟子是僅次於孔子的儒家代表人物，要正確理解儒家思想就必須掌握《孟子》這本經典的內容。本課程將以《孟子》中的幾個概念區分作為切入點引導同學理解孟子思想，它們分別是人禽之辨、義利之辨、王霸之辨與夷夏之辨，並進而根據這些區分了解孟子的道德哲學或傳統所謂的「心性論」與「修養工夫論」，以及了解孟子的政治哲學或傳統所謂的「王道思想」。就具體主題而言，第一在孟子道德哲學方面，釐清「性善說」的確切意涵；第二是「四端之心」與性善之間的關係；第三是「知言養氣」與道德實踐行動力之間的關係。在政治哲學方面，首先釐清「義利之辨」在政治上的確切意涵；其次討論孟子在政治上的王道思想是民主思想還是民本思想的問題；第三討論孟子的「夷夏之辨」蘊含的夏文化中心之問題。《孟子》作為一部經典意謂著它對人們的意義不侷限在其成書的年代，因此，整個課程除了力圖幫助同學們優游於古典的世界，了解孟子身處的時代與他回應時代問題的方式之外，也希望同學們藉著個人研讀與相互討論思考《孟子》在當代的意義。

Among the many Eastern thoughts, Confucianism is considered one of the most important, and Mencius is the representative figure of Confucianism after Confucius. To correctly understand Confucianism, you must master the content of the classic "Mencius". This course will use several conceptual distinctions in "Mencius" as an entry point to guide students to understand Mencius' thoughts, which are the distinction between humans and animals, the distinction between righteousness and benefit, the distinction between kings and tyrants, and the distinction between barbarians and Xia. Based on these distinctions, students will then understand Mencius's moral philosophy or the traditional so-called "mind-xing theory" and "cultivation theory", as well as understand Mencius' political philosophy or the traditional so-called "kingly thought." As far as specific topics are concerned, the first is to clarify the exact meaning of "the theory of good nature" in terms of Mencius' moral philosophy; the second is the relationship between the "four fundamentals of mind" and the good nature; the third is the relationship between "knowing words and nourishing Qi" and the power of moral practice. In terms of political philosophy, it first clarifies the precise political meaning of "the distinction between justice and benefit"; secondly, discusses whether Mencius' political kingship thought is a democratic thought or a people-centered thought; thirdly, it discusses the issue of the Xia cultural center contained in Mencius' "distinction between Yi and Xia". "Mencius" as a classic means that its significance to people is not limited to the era in which it was written. Therefore, the entire course not only strives to help students travel in the classical world and understand the era in which Mencius lived and the way he responded to the issues of the times, but also hopes that students can think about the contemporary significance of "Mencius" through personal study and mutual discussion.

※課程
〔宋〕朱熹：《四書章句集註》。台北市：鵝湖出版社，2010年。
王邦雄、曾昭旭、楊祖漢：《孟子義理疏解》。臺北：鵝湖出版社，2004年。

※Courses
[Song Dynasty] Zhu Xi: "Collected Commentary on Chapters and Sentences of the Four Books". Taipei City: Ehu Publishing House, 2010.
Wang Bangxiong, Zeng Zhaoxu, Yang Zuhan: "Explanation of Mencius' Principles". Taipei: Ehu Publishing House, 2004.