在《论衡》中,王充一方面专设《刺孟》篇,非难孟子为空谈无征之人,为不懂谦让之人,为自相矛盾之人;但另一方面却在其他篇章中称赞他是一个讲求实际的人,是一个为儒学发展作出巨大贡献的人,是一个可以与孔子并称圣贤的人。既贬又褒,且重在褒,这不仅开单篇非难孟子之先河,而且提高了孟子的地位,促进了汉代孟子学的发展,在孟学史上和儒学史上都产生了重要影响。
In the book named " Lun Heng",Mencius is criticized by Wang Chong as a man who made empty talk,had no humility and expressed paradox in his special article named " Criticizing Mencius".However,in other articles written by Wang Chong,Mencius is praised as a man who valued the reality,made great contribution to the development of Confucianism and can be regarded as a sage as Confucius.The criticism and praise to Mencius and the large proportion of praise not only created a precedent for criticizing Mencius with one article but raised the status of Mencius and promoted development of study on Mencius in the Han Dynasty,which has made an impact on both the history of Mencius ideology and the history of Confucianism.