詮釋「知」、「行」關係的政治涵義：孫文與蔣中正的比較

An Interpretation of the Political Meaning of “Knowing＂ and “Acting＂: A Comparison between SunYat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek

1918年孫文發表「知難行易」論，主旨在於宣揚三民主義在中國的落實，然其前提為，民眾要懂得遵從先知，服從領導，積極推展中國國民黨為中國所設計之建國藍圖。蓋此一論述與孫文擱置「議會政治」改革，轉而主張「直接民權」，並強調「訓政」體制以及推展「以黨領政」有互為表裏的因果關係。至於蔣中正在1932年決更易「知難行易」論，另闢蹊徑，採陽明學中的「知行合一」，則無非是認為先知已逝，處新的黨國體制下，亟需新的心理建設之論述。對他而言，與其強調信仰先知，不如強調忠實履行組織命令；強調信仰個人，亦不如強調服從黨國體制。孫、蔣兩人對「知」與「行」的認知不一，與兩人對陽明學的評價不一，和兩人的日本近代史觀亦有所關連。對孫而言，日本現代化之有成，首重在於他們全面西化政策，其次得力於長年武家政治之薰陶，武士勇於接受挑戰，富冒險犯難精神。因此，孫反對明治維新之成功有賴於陽明學的說法。反之，蔣中正卻推崇日本於德川幕府時代，能夠吸取陽明學的「致良知」及「知行合一」之精神，故勇於接受新思想以外，並樂於實踐。此即明治時代決定改革開放之後，日本就能立即西化，進而改革有成之緣由。 In 1918, Sun Yat-sen propagated his theory of “knowing is difficult, but acting is easy” in order to promote his Three Principles of the People in China. The premise of this theory was that people should follow the political visionaries, obey their leaders, and actively carry out the nation-building project as designed by the Kuomintang. During the same period, Sun Yat-sen had shelved reforms towards a system of parliamentary government (yihui zhengzhi) in favor of advocating popular sovereignty (zhijie minquan). He also emphasized the causal relationship between propagating political tutelage (xunzheng) and promoting a single-party system. In 1932, Chiang Kai-shek decided to replace the theory of “knowing is difficult, but acting is easy” with Wang Yangming’s concept of the “unity of knowing and acting” (zhixing heyi). He considered that after Sun-Yat-sen’s death people were in urgent need of a new theory of psychological construction under the new party-state system. For Chiang, carrying out orders faithfully was more important than being loyal to one’s ideological mentors and furthermore, complying with the party-state system was more important than being faithful to individuals. The differences between Sun and Chiang in their interpretation of “knowing” and “acting”, their different evaluation of Wang Yangming’s philosophy, and their divergent views on modern Japanese history were all interrelated. For Sun Yat-sen, Japan’s modernization was successful due to a comprehensive policy of westernization and Japan’s long-established spirit of bushido. For this reason, he disagreed that the success of the Meiji Restoration had relied on Wang Yangming’s philosophy. In contrast, Chiang Kai-shek stressed that Japan’s absorption of the spirit of Wang Yangming’s philosophy as expressed in concepts such as “attaining pure knowing” (zhi liang zhi) and the “unity of knowing and acting” during the late Tokugawa era had allowed it to enthusiastically engage in practice besides accepting new ideas. To him, that was why Japan could immediately westernize and reform successfully in the Meiji era.