錢穆與新儒家

Ch'ien Mu (1895-1990) and the New Confucianism

余英時(Yü Ying-shih)

《新亞學報》 16卷(下) (1993/01) Pp. 99-128+ap5

並列摘要

In this article, the author tries to show that the late Professor Ch'ien Mu cannot be considered as a member of the philosophical school of New Confucianism claiming Hsiung Shih-Ii (1885-1968) as its founder. It is true that Ch'ien was deeply committed to fundamental Confucian values and it is also widely realized that he defended with conviction the Chinese cultural tradition as did the New Confucianists. However, throughout his long life he persistently refused to promote Confucianism along any sectarian or doxographical lines. This is clearly evidenced by his refusal to become a cosignatory of the well-known Manifesto of Chinese Culture of 1958. Ch'ien considered himself primarily an intellectual historian whose duty it was to interpret the Confucian and other intellectual traditions in all of their diversity as faithfully and objectively as possible. He was never interested in establishing a new orthodoxy of Confucianism. Nor did he concern himself with determining who were the true heirs of the Confucian Way (Tao-t'ung) in the past 25 centuries. Above all, he expressedly and repeatedly stated during his last years that he must not be identified with the New Confucianism of Hsiung Shih-li. In this article Ch'ien's intellectual relations with Hsiung Shih-Ii and other New Confucianists are traced through his own writings as well as other contemporary accounts. Moreover, Ch'ien's view on Chinese history in general and on the Confucian tradition in particular are also contrasted with those of the New Confucianists.