傳統詩畫中審美意蘊的主要精神，並非僅在對象的臨摹，而在審美主體與對象之間具有擬似、類比的交流形式，在儒家哲學中，則以道德義理建立其中的比擬交流關係，此即所謂「比德」。《論語》中之「比德」思想，有所繼承於《詩》、《易》「比」、「興」之思維與「比德」之傳統，而更進一步發揮與強調其中的道德意義，從而建構出主、客之間的「比德」關係，且在其中蘊含了孔子的道德情操與對生命境界的景仰與嚮往，並將心、物的主客關係開展為人、物、天道的聯繫，實為孔子「下學而上達」（《論語．憲問》）思想的開顯。本文擬以《論語》為主要對象，作為儒家「比德」思想之初探，首先，由《詩》、《易》等經典探究「比德」思想之傳統，次就《論語》予以析論，再就「比德」思想與儒家天人關係論之。

The aesthetic spirit of traditional poem paintings is to not merely make mimicries of the objects but also create mimetic and analogous relationships between the subjects and their objects. In Confucianism, such a mimetic communication in between is founded on virtue, which is the so-called “virtue comparison.” In Analects, the concept of “virtue comparison” inherits the thoughts of “comparison” and “inspiration” and the tradition of “virtue comparison” from The Book of Poems and The Book of Changes. In the meantime, such a concept utilizes and highlights Confucius’s morality as well as his admiration and aspiration for life, developing the subject-object relationship between the mind and the objects into the connection between men, things and the heavenly way and launching the thought of “my studies lying low, and my penetration rising high” as found in “Xian Wen,” Analects. This article is to make a preliminary inquiry on the Confucian thought of “virtue comparison” in Analects; first, we make a comparison between the thoughts of “virtue comparison” as found in The Book of Poems and The Book of Changes, then, we analyze the “virtue comparison” in Analects, and finally we discuss the thought of “virtue comparison” with reference to the Confucian relationship between men and heaven.