以天為本的經世之學──安世鳳《尊孔錄》與幾個清儒個案

Confucian Statecraft and the Notion of Heaven: An Shifeng's ZunKonglu and Cases from the Qing

本文研究晚明安世鳳《尊孔錄》一書的思想，此書內容豐富，思想自成體系，卻不為學界所知。安世鳳重視儒家經世之學，強調儒學以天為本。他說天是人類之大父，學應以達天為目標，而孝乃是達天之工夫。他尊崇孔子，認為孔子是代天立教、開創歷史新局的大聖人，又強調君權天賦，高揚尊君思想。本文也透過解讀王啓元、許三禮等清儒的著作，說明《尊孔錄》的思想並非獨特，在明清之際其實有不少呼應的看法。這些學者雖沒有地域、學派或師承的關係，但分享了一些共同的關懷與看法，他們的學說反映了十七世紀儒學有一股強調敬天、尊孔、經世之學風。此研究不僅讓我們更深認識明清儒學的內涵，也提供一些早於晚清和民國「孔教論」的先例。

This paper aims to study the thoughts of several Ming-Qing Confucians, including An Shifeng 安世鳳 (1557?-?), Wang Qiyuan 王啟元 (?-?), and Xu Sanli 許三禮 (1625-1691). Through a close reading of An Shifeng's Zunkonglu 尊孔錄 (Notes on Honoring Confucius), a rare book of the late Ming neglected by contemporary academia, this paper demonstrates that An emphasized the importance of Confucian statecraft and the notion of heaven. Due to heaven being the origin of human beings and having bestowed good nature onto all people, knowing heaven and behaving according to its principles are the ultimate goals of Confucian sages' teachings. According to An Shifeng, filial piety is not only a form of moral cultivation, but also a means to serve heaven. He honored Confucius as the delegate of heaven and the greatest sage in human history, whose teachings were to be the principles for governance for all generations. An also emphasized power is bestowed upon rulers by heaven, which, he thought, should not be challenged under any circumstance. Similar ideas are able to be found in the works of Wang Qiyuan and Xu Sanli. Despite a lack of evidence showing a direct relationship between or mutual influences affecting these Confucians, they certainly share some kind of intellectual ethos and related concerns. For example, they all criticized various features of Neo-Confucianism and saw Confucianism as a holistic system of heaven, earth, and human affairs, as well as emphasizing the importance of understanding heaven. This study provides us with not only a better understanding of Confucianism during the Ming-Qing transition, but also a precedent to discuss Confucianism in late imperial China.