儒学史上的“治生论”——兼与余英时先生商榷

在儒学史上,元代许衡第一次明确提出了儒者以“治生”为先务的思想。许衡的治生论是基于当时儒者的经济状况而作出的一种应对,表达的是儒者学做圣贤需要先解决生计问题这样一个朴素的道理。作为儒学的一个口号,它的确存在着措辞不当的问题。王阳明从儒学的基本教义出发,对它作出批评与修正。晚明以降,不断有学者对许衡的治生论给予肯定,但这些辩护在策略上都是极力撇清治生与营利的干系,在理论上都没有真正驳倒王阳明。当代学者余英时先生则从王阳明对许衡治生论的批评中解读出明代儒家伦理有了新发展。儒家伦理在明代是否有了新发展,以及这种伦理发展与社会风尚变化之间是否存在某种因果关系,这些问题都有待进一步的论证。

A Text of Differance: the Doctrine of "Make-livine" in Confucian History

It's Xu HENG of Yuan dynasty that held firstly the idea that Confucian ought to make living at first. What's on earth the meaning of this idea? This article thinks that the doctrine of "make-living" of Xu is a way to deal with the economic situation of Confucians in that time, which means that Confucian should solve the problems of living at first. As a slogan it does misuse the terms. On the other hand, many scholars later misunderstood it. Wang YANGMING made criticism and modification on it according to the basic Confucian doctrine. From the later Ming dynasty on, there are many scholars, who justify the doctrine of Xu, which didn't demolish Wang's argument. In recent, Yu YINGSHI interprets that Confucian ethics has got new improvement in Ming dynasty from the criticism of Wang. But Yu's argument is forced interpretation.