中國詮釋學的政治學意涵：宋儒的孟子學爭議

Chinese Hermeneutics as Politics: The Sung Debates Over the Mencius

本文通過宋代儒者對孟子政治思想的爭辯這個具體個案，分析具有中國文化特色的詮釋學的一個面向：作為政治學的詮釋學。中國歷代思想家常透過重新詮釋經典之途徑，提出他們對時代政治問題的看法與政治策略。孟子之不尊周係宋儒之孟子學爭議之引爆點，尊孟與斥孟雙方爭辯之核心問題有三：（1）王霸之辯；（2）君臣之分；（3）孔子之「道」之解釋，此三大問題有其連環性在焉。

This essay is a historical demonstration on the profoundly pragmatic character of Confucian scholarship, via a description of the Sung (960-1279) Confucians' hermeneutical debates over the Mencius. Scholarly debates in Confucianism are themselves political wranglings over legitimation of a political institution, policy decision, and its implementation. Such a phenomenon is rarely seen elsewhere in the world. This essay has three sections. Section A specifies why the Mencius-ontroversies took place in the Sung era, the four causes that catapulted the Mencius into a storm center of debates during the Sung years. Section B details what the debates were about, the contents and processes of these Mencius-controversies between the pro-Mencius scholar-officials and the anti-Mencians. Section C concludes with some novel implications on Chinese hermeneutics as politics.