摘要
儒家的倫理思想源遠流長，二千多年來影響中國傳統的禮教文化，以家庭為基礎的倫理思想展開至社會秩序及國家政治，形成「家國同構」的倫理體制，為中國思想史上的重要主軸。儒家以「孝」為核心，奠基其殯葬倫理的核心思想，並以「禮」為其綿密網絡，構築殯葬禮儀的儀節制度和道德規範，使中華民族數千年來對於殯葬禮儀的生死大事，抱持著敬畏與重視的態度，以傳統倫理思想為準則，不敢稍有怠忽。 先秦儒家思想是以孔、孟、荀為主要代表，殯葬禮儀以儒家的倫理思想奉為圭臬，架構整體殯葬禮儀的家庭及社會的行為規範。首先藉由經典詮釋先秦的儒家殯葬倫理思想的架構及概略說明殯葬禮儀的內容，經由演繹的方式對於先秦儒家在殯葬倫理思想上作進一步的分析與探討，歸納並確立先秦儒家對於殯葬倫理的思想架構，並探究先秦儒家殯葬倫理的意義。
並列摘要
The ethical thought of Confucianism has been around for over two thousand years. It has affected the ethics of traditional Chinese culture. Ethical thought based on the family has developed into an ethics for society and the state. The resonances between family and nation are an important part of Chinese intellectual history. Confucianism takes ”filial piety” as its core and lays the foundation in funeral ethics. It also weaves a compact network with ”courtesy”, so as to build a ritual system and the moral norms of funeral etiquette. Consequently, Chinese society has treated funeral etiquette, an issue of life and death, with awe and has valued it for thousands of years. Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi are the major representatives of Confucianism in pre-Qin China. People at that time looked up to the ethical thought of Confucianism as the pattern for funeral etiquette and established an integrated behavioral standard of funeral etiquette both in family and society. This article interprets the structure of the thought of funeral ethics of pre-Qin Confucianism and surveys funeral etiquette itself. It then analyzes and studies the thought further, by means of a deductive method, and finally, concludes and defines its thinking structure by probing into the significance of funeral rites.