試論儒家經典注釋中之除魅與重魅──逐漸消失的「鬼神」

An Exploration of the Confucian Classics' Commentaries: the Disenchantment and Reenchantment of Ghost and Deity

在社會學的巨擘韋伯的論述之中，「除魅」一詞意指使世界解除於神秘論與巫術之過程，由於自然與世界的神聖化逐漸被解除而為人所可以管理的，故此在社會、法律及各種制度之營運上，宗教會慢慢地失去其影響力。當代的社會學家彼得．伯格卻進一步指出宗教被削弱後，人類是需要付上代價的。「重魅」是一個針對「除魅」而出現的理論，意指在已「除魅」的階段中，人類的心靈需求不獲滿足，因而有「重魅」的階段來臨。整體來說，儒學重人事生理，要想像儒家學者因服膺理性而掏空心靈的精神需求是不可能的。故在儒學的發展中，似乎難以先出現掏空人的精神需求的理性「除魅」階段，然後才逐漸出現「重魅」的階段。有見及此，本文撰寫之旨正是就此中西相異之處，由儒家學者作品之中，試窺探他們對於一些宗教概念的看法，了解他們是如何詮釋儒家經典中，一些比如「鬼」、「神」等的宗教概念。本文透過對比不同年代的注釋，嘗試是否可以看到隨時代的發展、社會經歷知識的進步後，儒家經典中對於宗教概念詮釋有沒有體現異於韋伯所指出的歷程。

According to Marx Weber, 'Disenchantment' is a concept which he used to describe the process whereby all forms of magical, mystical, traditional explanation are stripped from the world. He further coined the phrase “disenchantment of the world,” by which he meant that in the modern world, religious faith will end and give way to impersonal scientific laws and formal rationality. However, in the book 'A Rumor of Angels' Peter Burger argued that people need to pay a price for the 'disenchantment of the world” and that a meaningful reality had disappeared due to disenchantment. For instance, in the disenchanted world, the explanation of the human's sufferings does not satisfy people's psychological needs. Thus, 're-enchantment' in this rational age will emerge. This article is written with the intention to explore whether this phenomenon appears in Confucian culture or not. It is a common understanding that Confucianism focuses on the discussion of living a meaningful and moral life, which makes us hard to believe that the same disenchantment and reenchantment process in the Western society happens in Confucian culture. By comparing Confucian classics' commentaries of different period, this article will put a hypothesis in to test, i.e. the disenchantment process described by Weber did not happen in Confucian culture.