晚明許敬庵「格物」說的思想建構

How Xu Jing’an Conceptually Built His Notion of ''The Investigation of Things''

敬庵的思想變化與《大學》詮釋有著密不可分的關係，從最初服膺良知教到歷經心性之辨與無善無惡論爭，後經三十年參究所得出的「格物」新解，不僅作為學說總結，也是歷來代表訓解之一。「格物」說的提揭，是為了導正王學「務內遺外」以及「本體與工夫斷裂」的兩大流弊。他以「知止」為《大學》要點，並以「性體完復」詮釋「止」，而以「格物」等心上工夫作為「復性之學」的進路。由於他的《大學》詮釋系統乃依於「心性非一非二」與「善的二重意義」的理論基礎，因此「格物」被定位為存心復性的關鍵，並開出去惡歸止與知止養善兩大路徑。特別的是，他將「格物」與「誠意」、「慎獨」統一起來，一面統攝格致誠正的體上工夫，一面開出修齊治平的致用實踐，強調體用俱全方為「至善」的實現。為了防止工夫重蹈重內略外的偏向，儘管「格物」雖然仍然沿襲陽明格心的路數，但是他引入朱子敬涵動察的工夫作為「格物」之法，使心上工夫兼有「存養」與「去惡」之體用兩方。從這個角度來看，心性關係重整不僅表徵本體思考視野之換位，同時也從工夫脈絡辯證心性的做法，顯示出本體與工夫內在聯繫的思考。此格物路向的拓展及其所包含的救正向度，影響了關中大儒馮從吾與理學殿軍劉宗周，在思想史進程上可謂有其積極意義。

The transformations that occurred within Xu Jingan’s thinking were inextricably linked with his changing interpretation of the Great Learning. His intellectual trajectory moved from his initial emphasis on the teaching of intuitive knowledge to his later distinguishing between mind and nature, to later the argument he engaged in regarding the problem of “an absence of good and an absence of evil.” The new understanding of the concept of “Investigation of Things” that he generated out of thirty years of study not only served as a summation of his intellectual life, but one of his most representative lessons. His explanation regarding the “Investigation of Things” was done in order to correct two major problems he saw with the Wang School: “adhering to ethics and discarding achievements'' and the ''breakage of noumenon and effort.” He takes ''knowing perfection'' as the main point of Great Learning and interprets ''perfection'' as ''a return to a perfected nature,'' using the ''Investigation of Things'' understood as a kind of mental labor to chart the path of such a return. Since his interpretative system in relation to the Great Learning relies for its theoretical basis on the notions of ''the mind is not one or two'' and ''the dual meaning of goodness, ''the ''Investigation of Things'' is thus positioned as the key to cherishing the mind and returning to nature, opening up two pathways to do so, one for “removing evil and returning to perfection” and the other for “knowing perfection and nourish goodness.”
Xu takes the concept of the ''Investigation of Things'' and unites it with the notions of “sincerity” and ''singular caution.'' On the one hand, he commands the noumenal efforts required to extend knowledge and achieve sincerity and rectification in mind and thought. While on the other hand, he opens up practices for self-cultivation, family regulation, state governance, and the illustrations of virtues throughout the world, emphasizing that the both essence and function is geared towards the realization of the “supreme good.” Though his notion of the ''Investigation of Things'' is still within the approach to the mind pioneered by Wang Yangming, Xu introduces Master Zhu’s teachings as the principle method of the “Investigation of Things,” namely the notion of cultivating the mind when at repose and examining the emotions when in action, which makes mental labor possess two distinct dimensions divided across application and essence: one of “mind cultivation” and “evil eradication.” Xu does this in order to prevent against the repetition of a particular deviation: an emphasis on only internal ethics at the expense of neglecting the outer world. From this point of view, the reconciliation of the relationship of mind and nature not only represents the transposition of an ontological horizon of thought, but also dialectically integrates the workings of mind and essence, doing so from the perspective of work, revealing the intrinsic connection between ontology and work. This expansion in the meaning of the ''Investigation of Things,'' and the understanding of rectification and salvation implied within it, has influenced such scholars as the important Confucian Feng Congwu and the defender of Neo-confucianism Liu Zongzhou, playing a positive role in the history of the development of ideas.