人天生所具有的道德本性與道德上的認識和實踐能力。“良知”一詞最初由孟子提出，認為人不加思慮便能知道的便是“良知”。“良知”的具體內容包括親愛其父母、尊敬其兄長。而親愛父母是仁，尊敬兄長是義。“良知”說是孟子性善論的重要內容。明代的王守仁提出“致良知”，進一步發展了孟子的“良知”說。他認為，“良知”就是天理，一切事物及其規律都包含在“良知”之中。將“良知”擴充到底，即能達到對一切道德真理的認識和實踐。

Humans are born with innate conscience and the ability to know and act upon it. The term liangzhi (良知) was first used by Mencius, who believed that what man knew by instinct was liangzhi (knowledge of goodness). The term includes ren (仁), i.e. love for one's parents and yi (義), i.e. respect for one's elder brothers. The concept is an important component of Mencius' belief in the innate goodness of human nature. The Ming-dynasty philosopher Wang Shouren raised the idea of "attaining liangzhi." He extended the Mencius' liangzhi to mean the principles of heaven, maintaining that all things under heaven and their laws were covered by liangzhi. With liangzhi being extended to its fullest (through self-cultivation and moral practice), it is possible to know and put in practice all moral truths.

引例 Citations：

◎所不慮而知者，良知也。（《孟子·盡心上》）

人所不加思慮便能知曉的，就是良知。

What is known without thinking is the innate knowledge of goodness. (Mencius)

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供稿：北京外國語大學 外語教學與研究出版社

責任編輯：錢耐安