原史－由宗教通向人文的史學的成立

Origin of History

徐復觀(HSU Fook-kuan)

《新亞學報》 12卷 (1977/08) Pp. 71-142+ap3

並列摘要

The main purpose of this article is to explain how the change in ancient Chinese culture from a religious to a humanistic one stemmed from the development of the rose of the historian; it is therefore an account of the establishment of the study of history. It further aims at illustrating how the Confucian School of thought formed the backbone of ancient Chinese culture. The article consists of 12 sections. The first and second sections, drawing evidence from oracle-bone and bronze inscriptions, point out the errors. committed by Hsu Shen and Wang Kuo-wei respectively in their works, Shou-wen-chieh-tzu (說文解字) and Shih-shih(釋史) in misinterpreting the form and the meaning of the word shih (history), the original form of which should appear as □or□. The portion □ was derived from the character 口 meaning 'mouth', the same element as in the character 祝meaning to congratulate or to pray during worship. The portion □ represented the right hand holding a brush, for the 史official had to write down the prayer to the god, keep custody of it, and then read it out to the god through the mouth. The third chapter, based on writings from the earl Chou dynasty (about 1000 B. C.) through the Ch'un-ch'iu period (480-722 B. C.), explains the many and varied activities of the official historians of the period. One was devising the calendar to be kept alongside related historical records. During the middle of the Ch'un-ch'iu period, historical works such as the Pa Kuo Ch'un Chiu came into existence forming the basis of Chinese history. Good historians, based on their experiences in compiling history, discovered that luck or disaster, calamities and prosperity were the outcome of mankind's own doings, not dictated by the will of God as traditionally claimed. This assertion started a gradual transformation of emphasis from religion to humanism, thus strengthening the study of history. Chapter 4 depicts the conflict between religious domination and humanistic enlightenment. While keeping traditional religious judgements official historians, using the wisdom gained in the study of past history, began more and more frequently to reach humanistic judgements. However, while abandoning the superstitious elements of religion, the human wishes and ideals expressed in religion were still retained, thus symbolising a mixture of human and religious approaches to history writing. The most striking example was to base human judgement on past history rather than on the conventional verdict on human behaviour by God's will. This characterised the study of ancient history in China up to this stage. Section 5 records materials of ＂good＂ historians in the ancient period as evidence for the developments in the approach to history mentioned in section 4. Section 6 tells of the vigorous development of good history during the age of Confucius (479-551 B. C.), whose learning mainly came from his study of history and his life-long application of moral principles. These two combined to form the basis of his profound knowledge, and were a continuation of the existing trend of historians to formulate judgements by the study of history rather than by the will of God. His determined will for the salvation of the world inevitably led to the rewriting of the Ch'un-ch'iu. Section 7, based on a comprehensive interpretation of the three commentaries and the Ch'un-ch'iu, rewritten by Confucius (as stated by Mencius), concludes that the motives of the Sage were rooted not in the study of history, but in the elaboration of the spirit of the ancient good historians as a sound basis for human behaviour. The chapter also offers a detailed analysis of the Ku-liang-chuan. The writing of the Kung-yang-chuan is dealt with and analysed in Tung Chung Shu's Ch'un-ch'iu-fan-lu. Comments on the nature and approach to calligraphy are also included. Section 8 explains the fromation of ＂the proper way for man＂ not as a sort of empty concept, but as the outcome of historical fact and experience. This set the guide-lines for the development of Chinese culture, which deviated from the traditional philosophical ideas of the West based on reason. Confucius correlated the lessons learned from his practice of morality and his analysis of historical facts to form the basis of his philosophy, causing it to be thorough going and deeply rooted, lacking the vagueness of pure historicism. Apart from its enormous contribution to Chinese historical writing, the rewriting of the Ch'un-ch'iu by Confucius also led to the publication of the Tso-chuan. Section 9 deals swiftly yet thoroughly with the many conflicting interpretations resulting from the Tso-chuan since the Han dynasty. Tracing backwards to the writings of Han Fei, as influenced by Confucius' Ch'un-ch'iu, Tso-chuan and Ku-liang-chuan all bore similarities in their respective quotations. The quotations of the ＂superior man's sayings＂ alone served to explain many of the various accusations directed at the Tso-chuan. Chapter 10 describes how the Tso-chuan used four methods to explicate the Ch'un-ch'iu, all of which may be summed up by the expression, ＂the commentary must elucidate the meaning.＂ In addition to these ways, history was used to compile the commentary; that is, it did not simply use sayings by Confucius or the ＂superior man's sayings,＂ but rather formulated judgements on historical personalities, facts and causes and effects. This method I term ＂Letting history speak for itself.＂ These features characterise the greatest historical work of all times and ages-the Tso-chuan. Chapter 11 points out the comprehensiveness of the Tso-chuan by referring to the fifty tables of the Ch'un-ch'iu Chronological Records compiled by Ku Tung-kao. It further illustrates the greatness of this historical work by noting that: (1) It led to an approach to history which referred to human behaviour and its causes and effects, so that history was made rational and organic. (2) It took into account all the complex factors which produced any particular result, thus allowing an understanding of cause and effect in human behavior; something quite different from the principles of cause and effect in natural science. (3) It was well aware that in addition to the factors of interest calculation and cause and effect in human life, there was also the artistic element. Section 12 tells of the Kuo-Yu as a work by Tso in his old age intended to explain the great changes in history, which the Tso-chuan could not because of the restrictions imposed by Duke Yin of Lu during the first year of his reign. His purpose was also to list omissions and additions in new records.