Listen to this articledéxìnɡzhīzhī 德性之知
Knowledge from One’s Moral Nature
由心的作用而获得的超越于感官经验的认识，与“见闻之知”相对。张载最先区分了“见闻之知”与“德性之知”。宋儒认为，人对生活世界的认识是通过两种不同方式实现的。通过目见、耳闻所获得的认识，是“见闻之知”；通过内心的道德修养所获得的认识，则是“德性之知”。“德性之知”不依赖于感官见闻，并超越于“见闻之知”，是对于生活世界的根本认识。
The term refers to knowledge derived from the functioning of the mind, which, in contrast to “knowledge from one’s senses,” transcends knowledge obtained through the sensory organs. Zhang Zai was the first to differentiate between”knowledge from one’s senses” and “knowledge from one’s moral nature.”Confucian scholars of the Song Dynasty felt that people gained knowledge about the world in which they lived in two ways. Knowledge obtained from seeing and hearing was “knowledge from one’s senses,” whereas knowledge obtained through moral cultivation of the mind was “knowledge from one’s moral nature.” “Knowledge from one’s moral nature” was not reliant on the sensory organs; it transcended “knowledge from one’s senses” and was fundamental knowledge about the world in which one lived.
引例 Citation：
◎见闻之知，乃物交而知，非德性所知；德性所知，不萌于见闻。（张载《正蒙·大心》）
（见闻之知，乃是耳目与外物接触而获得的知识，并不是德性之知；德性之知，不产生于见闻所得的经验知识。）
Knowledge from one’s senses comes from contact with external objects and is not knowledge from one’s moral nature. Knowledge from one’s moral nature does not come from sensory perceptions. (Zhang Zai: Enlightenment Through Confucian Teachings)
