From Chu Pang-Liang to Yen Yüan: A Psychohistorical Interpretation of Yen Yüan's Violent Rebellion against Chu Hsi

從朱邦良到顏元：對顏元激烈反叛朱熹的心理學詮釋

楊瑞松(Jui-Sung Yang)

《欲掩彌彰：中國歷史文化中的「私」與「情」─私情篇》 2003 (2003/09) Pp. 411-461

https://doi.org/10.29531/siqing.200309.0411

摘要

顏元（1635－1704）在中國思想史的研究上，是一位充滿爭議性的人物。顏元論學的一大特色，在於他對於朱熹的強烈攻訐。他以罕見的嚴厲字眼和情緒化的措詞，對朱熹和其學說大加鞭撻。在有關顏元的研究討論上，論者對於顏元思想上的此項特色，往往因研究者本身對於朱熹和朱學好惡的差異，而顯現出兩極化的反應。然而也正因為如此，坊間對於顏元為何用如此情緒化的方式，視朱熹為罪大惡極之「偽儒」，必欲強力批判以昭告於世的現象，並沒有深入的探討。本文的研究動機乃是以問題化顏元對於朱熹的攻擊為起點，主要以心理史學的研究取向，分析他和朱子與朱子學之間的複雜關係。不同於傳統的思想史研究取向專注於思想本身的分析，本文著重於探索顏元的生命經驗和其學問思想轉變的關係。對於他生命中的重要情感經驗─父子之情的曲折發展和對朱子的虔誠信仰，以及遭受明清改朝換代之痛和長期為科舉制度所迫等心理因素─加以深入的分析，來研討顏元何以從一虔誠的朱學信徒轉而為史上罕見的激烈的攻朱思想家。文中將以身份認同危機等概念，來解釋顏元如何在意外得知自己的真正血緣身份的情況下（從朱邦良到顏元），激發其產生思想信仰上的危機。終其一生，顏元以日記和嚴格的行為規範來反省約束日常生活上的言行舉止，他的年譜記錄提供了豐富的資料以研討其思想和生命進展的關係。以往有關顏元研究和評價的盲點，正在於漠視其心理變化層面，過於「理性」地了解其思想特色。這項盲點尤其展現在對於其激烈反朱思想的理解上。如果不從顏元的生命經驗上，正視信仰朱子和朱子學原先對於顏元生命的重大意義，而僅從學者之間論學的爭議的層次上，來討究顏元和朱學的「愛恨」關係，實在無法理解問題的真正核心。本論文從對於其心理感情變化的歷程切入研究，不僅是對於其思想深入了解的一重要取徑，更企圖藉此研究強調情感因素，在歷史研究理解過程中可能扮演的重要角色。誠如美國史學家Peter Gay所言，歷史的研究在對於人物的探討中，應呈現其真正的情感和所遭受的挫敗矛盾。 長久以來，大思想家顏元的公共面貌引發各種不同的爭議與評價，本文從其幼年（朱邦良）的曲折生命經驗入手，側重其私與情面相的探討，從「情」的脈絡分析其生命和思想的轉變，從而對於顏元和其思想有一新的同情的理解。

關鍵字

顏元 ； 朱熹 ； 儒家 ； 心理史學 ； 禮

並列摘要

Yen Yüan (1635-1704) has long been a controversial figure in the study of Chinese intellectual and cultural history. Marginalized in his own time largely due to his radical attack on Chu Hsi (1130-1200), Yen became elevated as a great thinker during the early twentieth century because of the drastic changes of modern Chinese intellectual climate under the impact of Western culture. However, his intellectual significance has remained controversial and his radical attack on Chu Hsi has never been critically analyzed.Yen was certainly not the first nor the last to criticize Chu Hsi's teaching. Yen, however, was famous or, maybe we should say, notorious for his extremely radical charges against Chu's teaching and, more seriously, Chu's personality as well. With a vehemently resentful rhetoric permeating his works, Yen bitterly charged that the whole of Chu Hsi's teaching was nothing but pseudo-Confucian learning. As well, he proclaimed that Chu Hsi, as a well-disguised bogus Confucian, surreptitiously yet viciously deceived all the Confucian followers, who were innocently victimized by Chu's false learning, becoming useless, bookish, feminized literati.Ever since I began my research on Yen Yüan, I have been constantly intrigued by Yen Yüan's sudden rebellion against Chu Hsi when he was thirty-four. In particular, I was puzzled by the emotion and vehemence embedded in his attack. Indeed, it is almost impossible to critically analyze his ideas without a proper understanding of his ”hatred” of Chu Hsi, because most of his ideas were juxtaposed to, or contextualized by, his bitter censure of Chu Hsi. Unlike previous interpretations, which mostly employed ahistorical approaches and essentialist conceptual frameworks to interpret Yen Yüan, my study aims to present Yen Yüan as a figure of his own time, a figure that represents ”real people in history, with real passions and real conflicts,” in Peter Gay's words. Instead of trivializing the emotional side of Yen Yüan, I problematize it and demonstrate that it constitutes the proper context for understanding the ideas and behavior of Yen Yüan, especially his attack on Chu Hsi.I have demonstrated that the complexity of Yen's ideas and his hatred for Chu Hsi in particular need be interpreted in light of his traumatic life experiences, his frustration over the fall of the Ming dynasty, and anxiety caused by the civil service examination system. Moreover, instead of portraying Yen Yüan merely as a Confucian philosopher, I have argued that he would be better understood as a cultural critic of the lifestyle of educated elites of late imperial China. I have evaluated the cultural significance of his emphasis on bodily learning and his contempt of literary learning in the context of the educated elite culture of late imperial China. By redirecting our attention on Yen's emotional and dramatic life experience, my study will shed new light on our understanding of this controversial figure and late imperial Chinese cultural history as well.

並列關鍵字

Yen Yüan ； Chu His ； Confucianism ； Psychohistory ； Ritual