《易傳》「性與天道」論述的政治內涵：先秦儒學的脈絡

東周時期，周文疲敝，天下大亂。面對禮崩樂壞的局面，先秦儒學文本各自提出了「性與天道」論述。這些論述都包含了作者的政治思想，寄託了重建從前理想社會的期望。《左傳》和《中庸》皆提出以禮為天道的「性與天道」論述，其目的皆是恢復西周的禮樂制度。孔子則以仁作為思想核心，認為天下歸仁後方能重歸太平。孟子重視仁心的道德自覺以重建仁政，而荀子強調禮義之道以便重建聖王的政治制度。而《易傳》作為東周時期較後出的儒學文本，或多或少地受到前述文本理念的影響，吸納了前述儒學文本的思想，最終提出了自己特有的「性與天道」論述，其中蘊含著作者所要表達的政治內涵。本文共分七章。第一章〈緒論〉講述論文的研究背景與問題意識，接著回溯、整理、評述前人的研究，最後說明論文的研究方法與研究範圍。第二章〈先秦儒學「性與天道」論述的政治內涵〉詮釋「性與天道」的思想內涵，再梳理自周初伊始到《左傳》、孔子、《中庸》、孟子、荀子的「性與天道」論述的政治思想。第三章〈《周易》的政治性質〉提出《周易》本身有著推天道以明人事的智慧，乃帝王之教科書，其中包含了文王治國平天下的政治哲學。第四章〈《易傳》「性與天道」論述的天地陰陽之政治內涵〉闡釋《易傳》如何以卦爻陰陽，天地之道，說明人們要學習聖人之道，了解仁義禮智、尚中守正、尊卑有序、親民愛賢之理，以便各正性命，成就和諧的人文社會。第五章〈《易傳》「性與天道」論述的「法先王」之政治內涵〉闡述《易傳》重視先王之道，先王之道包括裁成輔相、人文化成的民本政治，施行仁義、崇尚禮樂的王道政制，彰往察來、開物成務的政治智慧，以及觀象制器、通權達變的政治事業。第六章〈《易傳》「性與天道」論述的政治內涵之承先啟後〉說明《易傳》的「性與天道」論述的政治內涵如何汲取、歸納、發展了前述儒學文本的思想，有著學術大融合的思想地位，又下啟漢初與中期陸賈和董仲舒的思想，扮演了承上啟下的角色。第七章〈結論〉總結《易傳》之「性與天道」論述的政治內涵既包含孔子的人文道德觀，也有《左傳》、《中庸》的教義論，孟子的心性論，以及荀子的體制論，彰顯了天人、物我、知行的一體完成。古聖先王正是完成這一天人、物我、知行關係的典範。陸續成篇於戰國末年到秦漢之際的《易傳》十翼，提出以儒學為主導思想的政治觀點和古聖先王的政治典範，無非也是為了回應春秋戰國到秦漢之際的時代亂局，盼望人們能夠從易理領悟撥亂反正、平治天下之道，以便重建如三代之治的理想社會。

關鍵字

易傳；先秦儒學；性與天道；政治；聖王

並列摘要

The Zhou Culture was falling into ruin and chaos prevailed in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the face of the worsening moral degeneration, pre-Qin Confucian texts expounded on Nature and Way of Heaven from different perspectives. All these expositions conveyed the authors’ political ideas and their expectation of rebuilding the former ideal society. When it came to Nature and Way of Heaven, both Zuo’s Commentary on The Spring and Autumn Annals and The Doctrine of the Mean suggested that rites were the Way of Heaven, which aimed at restoring the ritual and music system of the Western Zhou Dynasty. Confucius regarded Ren as the core idea and believed that only when all the people pledged allegiance to Ren could the world become peaceful again. Mencius valued the moral self-consciousness of benevolent hearts to restore benevolent governance, whereas Xunzi stressed giving guidance through teaching of etiquette and ethical principles so as to rebuild the political system of the sage kings. However, Yizhuan as the later Confucian text in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period was more or less influenced by the ideas put forward by the above-mentioned Confucian texts. By absorbing these ideas, it finally elaborated on Nature and Way of Heaven in a peculiar manner, which contained the author’s political ideas. This thesis has seven chapters. Chapter I Introduction deals with the research background and the question awareness of this thesis, looks back upon, organizes and comments on previous studies, and lays bare the research methods and scopes of this thesis. Chapter II The Political Ideas of Discourse on “Human Nature and Way of Heaven” in Pre-Qin Confucianism explains the connotations of Human Nature and Way of Heaven and organizes the political ideas of expositions of Human Nature and Way of Heaven in Zuo’s Commentary on The Spring and Autumn Annals, The Analects, The Doctrine of the Mean, Mencius, and Xunzi since the early Zhou Dynasty. Chapter III The Political Nature of The Book of Changes indicates that this book is intelligent enough to obtain the way of heaven and further understand human affairs, and this book as a textbook specially for emperors contains the political philosophy of how King Wen of Zhou managed state affairs. Chapter IV The Political Connotations of Universe and Yin Yang of Discourse on “Human Nature and Way of Heaven” in Yizhuan explains how the book convinces people of learning the moral values promoted by ancient sages and understanding benevolence, justice, rites, and wisdom, Advocating and Adhering to the Golden Mean, the proper order of relations between senior and junior, and Showing Compassion to the People and Respecting the Person of Virtue through Trigrams and Component Lines so as to let life take its course and build a harmonious and humanistic society. Chapter V The Political Connotations of “Following Wise Rulers in the Past” of Discourse on “Human Nature and Way of Heaven” in Yizhuan explains that this book values the way of wise rulers in the past which includes the people first politics, the benevolent governance political system, the political wisdom of understanding things and succeeding in one’s endeavors and the political cause of being adaptable to changing circumstances. Chapter VI The Political Connotations of Serving as a Link Between Past and Future of Discourse on “Human Nature and Way of Heaven” in Yizhuan shows how these political connotations serves as link between past and future by absorbing, summarizing, and developing the ideas of the above-mentioned Confucian texts and ushering in Lu Jia and Dong Zhongshu’ ideas in the early and middle Han Dynasty. Chapter VII Conclusion concludes the political connotations of Discourse on “Human Nature and Way of Heaven” in Yizhuan which contain Confucius’ moral standards of Renwen, the theory of doctrine advocated in The Doctrine of the Mean, Mencius’ theory of the spiritual being, and Xunzi’s system theory, which highlight the integrity of Heaven and Man, Men and Things, and Knowledge and Application. The wise rulers in the past are the very paragon of uniting Heaven and Man, Men and Things, and Knowledge and Application as one. The reason Yizhuan, written during the period from the late Warring States Period through the Qin and Han dynasties, put forward the political ideas of regarding Confucianism as the dominant idea and regarding the wise rulers in the past as the political model is because it wanted to respond to the turbulent situations during this period, hoped that people could understand how to bring order out of chaos, to govern the state properly, and to bringing peace to all under heaven according to the principles in The Book of Changes, and finally rebuilt an ideal society like the one built during the Xia, Shang, and Zhou Dynasties.