民國初年上海的靈學研究：以“上海靈學會”為例

本文以1917年成立的上海靈學會，及其所出版的《靈學叢誌》(1918-1920)為主軸，探討五四運動前後，由楊璿、俞復、陸費逵、丁福保、嚴復等人所參與的一個研究「靈學」（探討靈魂、鬼神、生死問題與預測未來）的群體。在二十世紀初期的中國，靈學研究不但與傳統宗教信仰中的扶乩（亦稱扶鸞）活動有直接的關係，又嘗試將之與西方的心靈學、妖怪學、催眠術、靈魂照相等結合在一起，來回答生死鬼神、死後世界的終極問題，並解決道德淪喪的社會問題。再者，靈學研究不但採取「學會」的組織方式，也透過新興傳播媒體，如報紙廣告與期刊發行，使之成為一項可以花錢來學習的「知識」或「技能」。此一現象顯示「科學」作為一種知識範疇，在從西方經日本傳譯至中國的過程中，一直是多元、模糊、遊移的，並與宗教、經濟活動交織互動。以往的研究多從實證科學的角度，將靈學貶為「封建迷信」，本文擬避免這種黑白對立的評價，嘗試從描寫、分析的角度，澄清靈學與中國傳統及日本、西方等因素的關係，並闡釋它在民初思想、文化發展上的意義，及其內在侷限。

關鍵字

靈學；上海靈學會；靈魂照相；陸費逵；嚴復

並列摘要

This article focuses on the Shanghai Spiritualism Society, which was founded in 1917 by Yu Fu, Lu Feikuei, Ding Fubao, Yang Xuan, and Yan Fu and which published The Journal of Spiritualism (1918-20), in order to explore the origins and development of spiritualist study in early Republican China. The study of spiritualism-including such topics as the souls, deities, ghosts, spirit photography, life, and death-flourished in Shanghai during the early twentieth century. It was a new, vibrant phenomenon and soon became a form of knowledge or a set of skills that could be purchased or consumed through the medium of newspaper advertisements and in the organizational form of ”society.” The study of spiritualism on the one hand derived from fuji (to write in sand with a stick as a form of planchette) originating from ancient China, and, on the other hand, was influenced by Western and Japanese psychical research, mesmerism, demonology, and mentalism. Twentieth-century spiritualism in Shanghai thus illustrates the negotiations between the East and the West, old and new, metaphysics (or religion) and science, elite culture and popular culture, as well as urban and rural. Past studies have regarded spiritualism as superstition or anti-science. This article tries to avoid this clear-cut evaluation and emphasizes adopting descriptive and analytical methods to clarify the origin, significance, and limitations of the study of spiritualism in Shanghai in the 1910s and '20s.