經典的社會(學)詮釋

Social / Sociological Interpretation of the Canon in Taiwan

2011年六月，教育部公告自101學年度（2012年秋）起，將把「中華文化基本教材」列入高中其他類必選修課程。由於此教材三年前才改列為高中選修科目，內容又是傳統儒家經典《四書》，當公告一出，立刻引發激烈的社會爭議。然於此同時，讀經卻仍然是台灣社會中顯著的文化活動。不僅讀經班、書院學堂遍佈各地，更有民間團體組織定期的「經典總會考」，以學齡兒童為對象，計劃性地推廣「經典教育」。究竟對現代的台灣社會而言，讀經代表了什麼社會價值與意義？如果儒家經典充斥不合時宜的專制思想與性別、族群間的尊卑觀念，為何家長乃至於學校、地方仍視其為最有價值、應當傳承的文化傳統？面對這個爭議，論者多以多元文化觀點、或者民族的文化主體立場來評斷；然而無論是多元文化或是文化主體觀點，在解釋經典的社會現象時皆產生現代主義中以社群為自主單位的盲點。本文以為在解釋儒家經典的社會意義時，應當從歧義（disagreement）與社會展演（social performance）的觀點，而非現代社群主義，才能掌握經典價值的社會變遷，從而解析儒教與台灣主體化之間的互動過程。

What does Confucianism mean in the contemporary society of Taiwan? When the Ministry of Education announced in 2011 that the Four Books, the prime Confucian classics, be re-introduced in the high school curriculum, a row was sparked over whether Confucianism was of any value to the democratic and multicultural society of Taiwan. At the same time when the row proceeded, the study of the Confucian classics had however been widely promoted in the forms of privately run canon classes and academies as well as the grand prix for the canon champion. Provided that Confucian classics are indeed full of authoritarian dogma and outmoded values in ethnic and gender terms, why do parents, teachers and local communities still consider them to be the values that should be learned by and handed down to the future generation? The paper aims to explain the contradiction via the perspectives of disagreement and social performance. Considering the modernist viewpoint to be essentialising, this paper seeks to understand how value is valued, and how the institution that values changes via the competition amongst the actors, so that the interaction between Confucianism and the subjectivization of Taiwan can be further understood.