王船山歷史哲學中的時間觀

Time in Wang Fuzhi’s Philosophy of History

雖然王船山本人並沒有系統地發展其時間理論，然而其時間觀可以說是整個明清哲學中最重要的代表。基本上，王船山的時間觀包含了「超歷史」與「歷史」兩個層面，而通過兩者並行而成。這首先充分地表現在其一連串對於《周易》的解釋著作；其次，則見諸其《讀通鑒論》與《宋論》。可以說，其中既有自然哲學的時間觀，也有歷史哲學中的時間觀。此外，他還特別對於「知幾乘時」的概念多有勾畫。本文特別透過畢達哥拉斯學派的時間觀來凸顯其於自然哲學的時間觀之殊義，而另一方面則把其歷史哲學中的時間觀關聯到班雅明的歷史哲學時間觀之特色。藉此，本文將凸顯出王船山時間觀的「分位」，乃至其侷限所在。

Although Wang Fuzhi did not develop a systematic theory of time, his ideas on the very essence of time might be the most important representative view on time in Ming-Qing period of Chinese philosophy. Wang’s doctrine of time covers both a“supra-historical”and a“historical”dimension. While his view on time in the philosophy of nature was mainly found in his exegesis works on the Yijing, his understanding of time in the philosophy of history was expounded in his Du Tongjian Lun and Song Lun. Pinpointing the essential characteristic of Wang’s view of time, this paper will first compare Wang’s idea of natural time with Pythagoreanism, then compare Wang’s idea of historical time with Walter Benjamin’s philosophy of history. This will give rise to a topological determination of Wang’s doctrine of time, as well as an understanding of its limitations.