論〈乞醯論〉－十歲歸有光的論文及其入集的意義

《震川先生集》別集中有一篇論體散文－〈乞醯〉，文章主要是對《論語‧公冶長》篇中微生高應人乞醯的舉措失當展開批評，這篇文章特別之處在於它是歸有光十歲時寫的。歸有光從學雖早，然十歲畢竟還小，所以作論批評，失焦失據的地方在所難免。本論文即透過與歷代主要《論語》注疏作比較，以摘發少年歸有光的特殊理解，並指出其思考的盲點與立說的可能根源。而歷史上夙慧幼敏能詩善屬文的人物不少，但是像歸有光一般，有千餘字的少作刊載文集者，卻很少見。《震川先生集》主要成於大儒錢謙益與歸莊之手，二人編輯義例謹嚴，卻對〈乞醯論〉的論理瑕疵不以為意，且不顧那可能只是學童的練習之作，而將之選入，其用意實值得推敲。本論文即試圖為此提出解釋，藉以說明〈乞醯論〉一文在文集中的意義，並凸顯此篇少作之於觀看歸有光生命史的重要性。文分六節如下：（一）前言、（二）乞醯章與直的義理內涵、（三）〈乞醯論〉乞直說的承襲、（四）假議題充斥的〈乞醯論〉、（五）懷才不遇之歎－〈乞醯論〉入集的意義、（六）結論。

關鍵字

乞醯；神童；微生高；應制論；歸有光

並列摘要

There was one essay-”Begging for Vinegar”-written by Guei You-guang of the Ming Dynasty. The essay was compiled into an omnibus book-”Collection of Sir Jen-Chuan”. In the essay, Guei criticized Wei-sheng Kao's improper behavior that was recorded in ”Book V-Kung Ye Chang, Confucian Analects”. ”Collection of Sir Jen-Chuan” was compiled by two scholars, Chian Chian-yi and Guei Chuang, who had rigid criteria for articles edited in their book. Interestingly, the essay of ”Begging for Vinegar” was written by Guei at the age of ten. It could be a boy's exercising homework! However, the two scholars selected the essay regardless of its fallacy and immature proof. Therefore, I try to explain the significance of this essay and the meaning to be selected in ”Collection of Sir Jen-Chuan”. This article is divided into six parts: (1) Preface; (2) The logic of the essay on ”Begging for Vinegar” and its argument for uprightness; (3) The conventional view on ”pretending to uprightness”; (4) An essay rife with pseudo topics; (5) The frustrated life of a child prodigy-the meaning of this essay to be compiled into the collection; (6) Conclusion.