清 Qing · 文 Prose
问说
On Asking Questions
君子之学必好问。
问与学,相辅而行者也。
非学无以致疑,非问无以广识。
好学而不勤问,非真能好学者也。
Asking and learning are mutually supporting and go together.
Without learning there is no way to generate doubt; without asking there is no way to widen one's knowledge.
To be fond of learning yet not diligent in asking is not really to be fond of learning.
Meaning
Liu Kai makes fondness for asking the necessary condition of a gentleman's learning, then shows that asking and learning are two wheels that advance together: learning is what generates doubt, asking is what widens knowledge, and neither can replace the other. The closing judgment turns the argument around on the pretender — one who loves learning but will not ask has not truly loved learning at all. In less than fifty words the essay raises 'asking' from a matter of study technique to the fundamental attitude of a cultivated person, and warns against the filibuster of self-culture that never opens itself to another.
君子的学习,必定喜欢向人请教发问。发问与学习,是互相辅助、一起进行的两个方面。不学习就无法产生疑问,不发问就无法增广见识。好学却不肯勤于发问,那就不是真正善于学习的人。
Appreciation
[Plain Paraphrase] The passage is a complete miniature argument in four sentences. The first states the thesis: the learning of a gentleman necessarily involves a fondness for asking. The second develops it by defining the relation — asking and learning support each other and move forward together. The third proves it from the opposite side, and the fourth closes with a verdict. [Structure] The movement is thesis, development, counter-proof, verdict; each sentence is short, and each is shorter in claim than the last in consequence, so the logic tightens as it advances. The '也' and '者也' particles settle the tone; the reversal in '好学而不勤问' supplies the shock. [Imagery] There is no imagery in the strict sense — the power lies in the vocabulary of learning itself: 疑 (doubt) and 识 (knowledge) are the two poles between which the whole argument swings. Doubt is inward and originating; knowledge is outward and acquired; a mind that never produces the first can never receive the second. In this way Liu Kai turns an ethical exhortation into a piece of intellectual psychology, and the plainest possible words carry the most abstract argument.
【白话串讲】 刘开写《问说》:“君子之学必好问。问与学,相辅而行者也”。“非学无以致疑,非问无以广识”——“好学而不勤问,非真能好学者也”——他说学习和提问相辅相成。 【意象与手法】 此为桐城派议论文的典范:开篇立论、环环相扣。语言上多用判断句(……者也)与双重否定对偶(非学无以致疑,非问无以广识),语气笃定、逻辑严密;全篇语约而意丰,无一赘字,正见桐城派「雅洁」之旨。 【情感与主旨】 主旨是「学贵好问」:把问从一般的学习方法提升为君子修养的根本态度,承《论语》「敏而好学,不耻下问」与《书》「好问则裕」的儒家传统,反对独学无友、孤陋寡闻。 【名句点睛】 「非学无以致疑,非问无以广识」以双重否定的工对写问与学的辩证关系,是全文最精警之句,历来为读者称引。
Background
Liu Kai (1784–1824), courtesy name Fanglai, so Mengtu, was a native of Tongcheng, Anhui, and a distinguished disciple of Yao Nai, one of the so-called 'four disciples of the Yao school' along with Mei Zengliang, Guan Tong and Fang Dongshu. Poor and yet eager to learn, he wrote prose and verse and left the Mengtu collection and a commentary on the Analects. The Tongcheng school, founded by Fang Bao, continued by Liu Dachu and perfected by Yao Nai, insisted that principle, evidence and literary form be united, and prized a style that was 'elegant and clean'. Written probably in middle life, this essay answers a real intellectual situation: in the heyday of Qing evidential scholarship (kaozheng), researchers pursued verification while neglecting reflection, studying endlessly without ever putting a question to anyone. Liu's call for 好问 is directed precisely against that solitary study.
《问说》为清代桐城派古文家刘开所作。刘开(1784—1824),字方来,一字明东,号孟涂,安徽桐城人,姚鼐门下高足,与梅曾亮、管同、方东树并称「姚门四弟子」;家贫好学,喜交游,工诗文,著有《孟涂诗文集》《论语补注》等。桐城派为清代最大的散文流派,由方苞开创、刘大櫆继之、姚鼐集大成,主张「义理、考据、辞章」三者合一,论文讲求「义法」(义即内容之正大,法即章法之严整),文风以「雅洁」著称。刘开作为姚鼐弟子,恪守桐城义法而能自出新意,《问说》即其代表作品,作年已不可确考,当为中年论学之作。此文写作的现实背景,是清代乾嘉时期考据学(朴学)大盛——学者以「实事求是」「无征不信」为务,重考证而轻思辨,往往「学而不问」;刘开此文针砭时弊,主张学必好问、问以广识,正是对朴学独学之弊的纠偏。全文(包括节选之外的部分)还进一步论述「贤于己者问焉以破其疑」「不如己者问焉以求一得」的问之道,以及「强以为知」「求一言之屈」等俗学之弊,与韩愈《师说》并称论学名篇。本文节选为首段,是全篇立论的纲领,文字精炼、逻辑严密,历来入选古文选本,为中学语文常读篇目。
Art
The artistic power of the passage lies in compression and in proof. It is a strict example of the Tongcheng 'li-fa' (principle and method): the principle (that learning requires asking) is lofty, the method (four linked sentences, no ornament) is rigorous. Judgement sentences such as '问与学,相辅而行者也' close with 也 and give the cadence of a pillar set on the ground. The two double negatives '非学无以致疑,非问无以广识' form an antithesis in which 学 answers 问 and 致疑 answers 广识 — the parallelism is neat without becoming stiff, and the negative form doubles the force of the assertion. The final '非真能好学者也' adds the word 真, which distinguishes a counterfeit love of learning from a real one, and thereby converts a definition into a test. Not a single character is wasted; every clause performs a step in the argument.
此文为桐城派议论文的典范,其艺术可括为「立论警策、论证严密、语言雅洁」三端。其一,章法结构:首句「君子之学必好问」是中心论点,一语立骨,斩钉截铁;第二句「问与学,相辅而行者也」从正面阐释问与学的关系,是论点的展开;第三句「非学无以致疑,非问无以广识」从反面(双重否定)论证学与问缺一不可,是论证的深化;第四句「好学而不勤问,非真能好学者也」再以反面判断收束,把「好问」提升为「好学」的必要条件,完成首段的论证闭环。四句由总到分、由正面到反面、由概念到判断,环环相扣,层层递进,是一段结构完整的微型议论文。其二,句式运用:多用判断句——「问与学,相辅而行者也」「非真能好学者也」以「也」字收束,语气笃定;多用双重否定——「非学无以致疑,非问无以广识」以「非……无以……」的句式造成排比式对偶,语气比正面肯定更强;「好学而不勤问」又用「而」字转折,把「好学」与「勤问」的对立关系点明。其三,语言风格:桐城派讲求「雅洁」,此文语约而意丰——四句共四十余字,而论点、论证、结论俱全,无一赘字、无一闲笔;用词精当(致疑、广识、相辅而行),句式整饬而不板滞,正是「义法」的示范:义(好问之道)正大,法(章法句式)严整,义法与辞章合一,堪称清代议论文的短篇典范。
Allusions
The essay is a condensation of the Confucian tradition of 好问. The Analects supplies the core: ' keen in learning and not ashamed to ask of his inferiors' (Gongye Chang), and Confucius' own example, 'when he entered the ancestral temple he asked about everything'. The Book of Documents gives the classic warrant: 'He who loves to ask grows rich; he who is self-sufficient grows small' — the character 裕 (rich) illuminating the 广 (broaden) of 广识. The Book of Rites adds method: the Xue Ji says, 'A good asker is like hewing wood, taking the easy knots first', and the Zhongyong lists 审问 (careful inquiry) as the second of the five steps of learning. Its counterweight, also from the Xue Ji, is the warning that 'learning alone, without friends, leaves one narrow and ill-informed' — the precise fault that Liu's final sentence rebukes. Later in the essay he returns to Confucius' 'not asharned to ask' and 'asked about everything in the temple'.
《问说》的文化内涵,深植于儒家「好问」的经典传统。其一,《论语》之「问」:孔子「敏而好学,不耻下问」(《论语·公冶长》)是「好问」的最早经典表述,孔子本人「入太庙,每事问」(《论语·八佾》)更是好问的现身说法;刘开「君子之学必好问」正是这一传统的纲领化。其二,《尚书》之「问」:《书·仲虺之诰》「好问则裕,自用则小」——好问则知识充裕,自以为是则见闻浅小,是「好问」的直接经典依据,「裕」字(充裕)正与「广识」的「广」字相发明。其三,《礼记》之「问」:《学记》「善问者如攻坚木,先其易者,后其节目」论问之方法;《中庸》「博学之,审问之,慎思之,明辨之,笃行之」更把「审问」列为治学五步之第二步——刘开「问与学,相辅而行者也」正是对「学—问」次第的重新表述:不是先学后问,而是「相辅而行」。其四,反面之戒:《学记》「独学而无友,则孤陋而寡闻」是「学而不问」之弊的经典告诫,刘开「好学而不勤问,非真能好学者也」正是据此立论。其五,全文(节选之外)还引「孔文子不耻下问」「子入太庙每事问」等典。可见此文是儒家治学传统的浓缩:把散见经籍的问学思想熔铸为「问与学,相辅而行」的命题,是「述而不作」式的集大成。
Commentary
《问说》holds an important place in the history of Qing prose and of Chinese educational thought. It is regularly anthologised alongside Han Yu's 'On the Teacher' and is a standard text for the classical-language classroom, and in it the Tongcheng doctrine of li-fa is fully realised: the principle is orthodox, the structure stepped, the diction spare. From the early twentieth century it has been printed in dozens of anthologies of famous prose and remains a common set text. Its standing pairing with 'On the Teacher' is instructive: Han Yu writes of the teacher, Liu Kai of the question, and the two together describe the two rails — instruction received and questions put — on which Chinese learning has always moved. In the history of learning, the essay's insistence that 疑 is the evidence of real study is a striking anticipation of the evidential scholars' own practice of 'asking about everything' (每事问) and 'leaving doubt where doubt belongs' (多闻阙疑), and it anticipates the modern ideal of the diligent, questioning student.
《问说》在清代古文与教育思想史上占有重要地位。其一,古文史上的地位:它是桐城派散文的代表作之一,与方苞《狱中杂记》、姚鼐《登泰山记》等同为桐城文章典范,历来入选《古文观止》续编及各类古文选本,为中学语文常选篇目;桐城派「义法」之说在此文得到完整体现——义正(好问之道)、法严(层层推进)、辞雅(语约意丰),是「义理、考据、辞章」合一主张的示范文本。其二,与《师说》的并称:此文与韩愈《师说》被历代选家并置对读,《师说》论「从师」,《问说》论「好问」,一师一问、互为表里,合观可见中国教育思想「师道」与「问学」的双轨传统。其三,思想史的影响:此文把「问」从学习方法提升为「君子之学」的根本态度,与「学贵有疑」「不耻下问」的传统一脉相承,对后世学风影响深远——尤其对清代朴学「每事问」「多闻阙疑」的考证精神是一种理论上的呼应,对近代「勤学好问」的教育理念也有先导意义。其四,文风影响:桐城派「雅洁」之旨在此文得到充分体现——篇幅短小、语言精炼、说理透辟,这种「以少胜多」的短文范式,影响了清代及近代议论文的写作风气,至今仍是论说文教学的经典范本。
Prosody
Line by line
君子之学必好问。
The learning of a gentleman must be fond of asking.
君子的学习,必定喜欢向人请教发问。
The study of the noble man must love to ask questions.
开篇一句立论,是全文的纲领。「君子」一词承接儒家的人格理想——君子是修养完备之人,以「君子之学」领起,即把「好问」从一般的读书方法提升为君子修养的必备品质,立意甚高;「必」字斩钉截铁、不容商量,定下全文论断式的语气,读者一读即知此文的立场不可动摇;「好问」二字点出全文主旨——好者,爱好、喜好也,不是「能问」(能力)而是「好问」(态度),强调问不是不得已而为之,而是由衷的喜好,这正是《论语》「敏而好学,不耻下问」的精神。此句浓缩了《论语》「不耻下问」与《书》「好问则裕」的经典思想,却以更凝练的句式出之——「君子之学」点出主体与领域,「必好问」亮出中心判断,主谓宾俱全而无一冗字,是典型的桐城派「雅洁」文风,一句立骨,后文皆由此生发。
The opening line states the thesis, the charter of the whole. The word noble man carries the Confucian ideal of character — the noble man is the fully cultivated man; leading with the study of the noble man raises loving to ask from a mere reading method to an indispensable quality of the noble man's cultivation, the aim high. The word must is decisive, beyond argument, fixing the assertive tone of the whole, so that the reader knows at once the stance is unshakable. Loving to ask names the theme — love means to be fond of, not able to ask (ability) but loving to ask (attitude), stressing that asking is not a reluctant necessity but a heartfelt fondness, precisely the spirit of the Analects: diligent and fond of learning, not ashamed to ask those below. The line condenses the classic thought of the Analects' not ashamed to ask below and the Book of Documents' loving questions brings fullness, yet in a more condensed syntax — the noble man's study marks the subject and field, must love to ask gives the central judgment; subject, predicate, object complete without a redundant word, the typical refined economy of the Tongcheng school: one line establishing the bone, and all below growing from it.
问与学,相辅而行者也。
Asking and learning are mutually supporting and go together.
发问与学习,是互相辅助、一起进行的两个方面。
Questioning and study are two things that advance side by side, each aiding the other.
第二句从正面阐明问与学的关系,是全文的核心命题。「相辅而行」四字是立论的关键:问不是学的附庸,而是与学并列、相互促进的双轮——学有所疑则问,问有所得则学,循环往复,共成其业;「相辅」写二者互相资助(学供问之资,问助学之深),「而行」写二者并进(不是先后而是同行),把「问」从「学」的从属地位中解放出来,正是此文高出一般「勤学」之论处。句式用判断句(……者也),语气肯定,如立柱于地,不容游移。此句还暗承《中庸》「博学之,审问之」的次第而有所发展:经典以「学—问」为先后五步,刘开却说「相辅而行」,更强调其同步性与互动性——学与问不是阶段关系而是结构关系。全句虽短,却是全文论证的支点:以下「非学无以致疑,非问无以广识」皆由此句生发,一正一反,互为印证。
The second line expounds positively the relation of questioning and study, the core proposition of the whole. The four words advance side by side are the key to the thesis: questioning is no appendage of study, but a paired wheel, equal to study and mutual — study meets doubt and questions, questioning gains insight and studies, circling on, together completing the work. Advance side by side writes the mutual sustenance (study supplies the material for questioning, questioning aids the depth of study); side by side writes the parallel advance (not sequential, but simultaneous), freeing questioning from the subordinate place under study, precisely where this essay rises above the ordinary talk of diligent study. The sentence uses the classical judgment form of definition, the tone affirmative, like a pillar planted in the ground, unwavering. The line also secretly inherits the sequence of the Doctrine of the Mean — study it broadly, question it searchingly — yet develops it: the classics take study and question as two of five ordered steps, while Liu Kai says they advance side by side, stressing their simultaneity and interaction — study and question are not a sequential but a structural relation. Short as it is, the line is the fulcrum of the whole argument: below, without study no questions are aroused, without questioning knowledge is not broadened, all grows from it, positive and negative, confirming each other.
非学无以致疑,非问无以广识。
Without learning there is no way to generate doubt; without asking there is no way to widen one's knowledge.
不学习就无法产生疑问,不发问就无法增广见识。
Without study, no questions are aroused; without questioning, knowledge is not broadened.
此句从反面(双重否定)论证问与学缺一不可,是全文最精警的对偶句,也是流传最广的名句。「非……无以……」的双重否定句式,语气比正面肯定更强——不是「学能致疑」的平和陈述,而是「非学无以致疑」的斩钉截铁,如重锤连击,不容置疑;两句对偶,「学」对「问」、「致疑」对「广识」,工整而不板滞。「学以致疑」揭示学的功能:真正的学习必然产生疑问——疑是思考的产物,学得越深,疑得越精,「致疑」实为「学有所得」的标志;「问以广识」揭示问的功能:一己之读所见有限,经师友答疑、异说碰撞,方能突破认知边界——「致疑」是向内生出问题,「广识」是向外获得新知,一内一外、一因一果,构成严整的逻辑链条。此句深得《礼记·学记》「学然后知不足」之旨,又比经典更直接地点出「疑」与「识」的辩证关系,是「学贵有疑」思想的精炼表达,历来为读者称引。
The line argues from the negative (double negation) that questioning and study are each indispensable, the keenest couplet of the whole and the most widely quoted phrase. The double negation without...no... is more forceful than the positive: not the calm study arouses doubt, but the decisive without study, no questions, like repeated hammer blows, beyond doubt. The two lines pair: study paired with question, arouse doubt with broaden knowledge, tight yet not rigid. Study arouses doubt reveals the function of study: true study must produce doubt — doubt is the child of thought, the deeper the study, the finer the doubt; arousing doubt is in fact the mark of study bearing fruit. Questioning broadens knowledge reveals the function of questioning: the reading of one man is limited; through masters and friends resolving doubts, through the clash of differing views, the boundary of knowing is crossed — arousing doubt is generating the question within, broadening knowledge is gaining the new from without; one inner, one outer, one cause, one effect, forming a strict logical chain. The line deeply inherits the Book of Rites' Record of Study — study, then know your insufficiency — yet points more directly to the dialectic of doubt and knowledge, the condensed expression of the doctrine that study prizes doubt, and has been cited by readers through the ages.
好学而不勤问,非真能好学者也。
To be fond of learning yet not diligent in asking is not really to be a lover of learning.
好学却不肯勤于发问,那就不是真正善于学习的人。
To love learning yet not be diligent in questioning is not truly to love learning.
末句以反面判断收束首段,把「勤问」树立为「好学」的试金石,是首段论证的归结。「好学而不勤问」写貌似好学的假象——好学之人若止于自读自思,不问于师友,则如《学记》所戒「独学而无友,则孤陋而寡闻」,其学必浅;故刘开以「非真能好学者也」一语否决之,釜底抽薪。「真」字是全句的枢纽:它区分了「貌似好学」与「真好学」两种层次——只读不问者是貌似的(有其表而无其实),好问勤问者才是真好的(表里如一),暗含对浮夸学风(如以读书多为务而不求甚解)的警惕。此句与前句「非学无以致疑」呼应:前句论「学」之不可废,此句论「问」之不可缺,而以「问」为归结,正见全文立论在「问」——学而不问则学不真,问而辅学则学有成。四句至此,论点、论证、结论俱全,是一段首尾完具的微型议论文,逻辑之严密、语言之精炼,堪称清代论说短章的典范。
The closing line ends the first paragraph in a negative judgment, setting diligent questioning as the touchstone of loving learning, the conclusion of the paragraph's argument. To love learning yet not be diligent in questioning writes the false show of loving learning — the man who loves learning, stopping at self-reading and self-thought, not asking masters and friends, is warned by the Record of Study that to study alone without friends is to be narrow and ignorant; his learning must be shallow, so Liu Kai rejects it with is not truly to love learning, removing the fuel from beneath the cauldron. The word truly is the hinge of the line: it distinguishes the two levels of seeming to love and truly loving — the reader-only is seeming (the form without the substance), the question-loving is truly loving (form and substance as one), carrying the hidden vigilance against the florid learning (the pursuit of wide reading without understanding). The line answers the foregoing without study, no questions: the foregoing argues that study cannot be neglected, this argues that questioning cannot be lacking, and closes on questioning, precisely showing the whole's thesis lies in question — study without questioning is no true study, question aided by study completes the learning. Four lines, thesis, argument, conclusion all present, a miniature essay complete from head to tail; the rigor of logic and the refinement of language make it the model of the Qing's short argumentative piece.
Study
Word focus
Related Reading
Han Yu's 'On the Teacher' opens 'Now, no one is born knowing: who then can be free of confusion? And to be confused and not follow a teacher, that confusion will never be resolved', and so resolves confusion through the teacher; Liu Kai resolves it through asking. In fact the two complete each other — following a teacher is one way of asking, asking is the purpose of following a teacher. The styles also answer one another: 'On the Teacher' is indignant and urgent, the voice of an古文 writer in open quarrel with his age; 'On Asking Questions' is even-tempered and direct, the Tongcheng voice correcting a custom quietly. Read together they show the line of learning prose from Tang to Qing.
韩愈《师说》「人非生而知之者,孰能无惑?惑而不从师,其为惑也,终不解矣」与《问说》「非学无以致疑,非问无以广识」同论「惑」与「疑」的解决之道,而路径相反:《师说》主「从师」——惑则求师,师者所以传道受业解惑也,以「师」为中心;《问说》主「好问」——学以致疑,问以广识,以「问」为中心。实则互为表里:从师正是好问的途径之一(问于师),好问正是从师的目的所在(解惑),一师一问,合观才见「为学」的全貌。二文的论说方式亦相映成趣:《师说》开篇即言「古之学者必有师」,立论于「古」;《问说》开篇即言「君子之学必好问」,立论于「君子」——一托古自重,一取法圣人。风格上,《师说》愤世嫉俗(抨击「耻学于师」的时弊),文气激切,有古文家的峭峻;《问说》平正通达(正面立论纠偏),文气温润,有桐城派的雅洁。二文并读,可见由唐至清论学古文的一脉相承与风格演进。
劝学·锲而不舍 Exhortation to Learning: Carving Without Ceasing 荀子 · 同论为学之道,一重「积」一重「问」,先秦与清代的呼应 Both discourse on learning — one weighing accumulation, one weighing asking — an echo linking the Pre-Qin and the QingXunzi's 'Exhortation to Learning' says that heaped earth becomes a mountain, collected water a deep pool, and that 'carve and give up and even rotted wood will not break; carve and never cease and even metal and stone can be cut through' — learning as accumulation of one's own effort. Liu Kai's essay, by contrast, makes learning depend on asking of others: 积 is what one does alone, 问 is what one borrows from outside, and neither alone will do. The difference is of age: Xunzi writes when the hundred schools contended and valued the individual's single-minded effort; Liu Kai writes in the age of evidential scholarship and corrects its solitude. Two thousand years apart, the two essay keep the same conviction — that learning is never the work of a solitary mind.
荀子《劝学》「积土成山,风雨兴焉;积水成渊,蛟龙生焉……锲而舍之,朽木不折;锲而不舍,金石可镂」论为学之道,重「积」——学问靠日积月累,如积土成山、积水成渊,持之以恒则金石可镂;刘开《问说》论为学之道,重「问」——学问靠问学相济,非问无以广识,勤问不辍则真能好学。一者言「学」之积累功夫(自修自积),一者言「问」之开放姿态(问于师友),看似两端,实则互补:荀子之「积」是自力的功夫(锲而不舍),刘开之「问」是他力的借助(问以广识),「积」而无「问」则孤陋,「问」而无「积」则浅浮——二文合观,正见中国治学思想「自力积累」与「借力问学」的双轨。差异在时代风气:荀子处百家争鸣之际,重个体的笃学;刘开处乾嘉朴学之时,纠独学的孤陋。两篇论学名文相隔两千余年,而「学贵有恒」「学贵好问」的命题一以贯之。