丁茶山政治思想中的契約論特色

“Social Contract Theory in Jeong Dasan’s Political Thought”

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.

十九世紀的東亞世界在面對西方勢力的入侵時，提出了“中體西用”、“東道西器”與“和魂洋才”的説法，然而只有日本的“和魂洋才”之説，推進了社會的改革，而取得成功。雖然大部分的學者認爲日本所以成功的原因在於揚棄儒教獨尊思想及其體用哲學。然而東亞的知識分子並未放棄傳統的思想，而持續摸索具有東亞特色的人文學與社會科學的理論。對於崇尚西學的現代東亞知識分子而言，東亞儒教文化最欠缺的是面對現實處境的理論，因而在重覆性的論點下，難有理論的發展。然而，實情是否如此？基於這個問題，本文嘗試討論朝鮮丁茶山（1762—1836）政治思想中可能的理論發展，由此説明其思想在儒學上的創新，以及與現代性思想的關聯。本文的結論以爲：丁茶山以“二人相與”説詮釋“仁”的意義，其論點可以與西方的社會契約論相連繫，在當時的儒學環境具有調整、創新的意義，在未來也有發展的可能性。由於儒學在當今已經不再具有過去東亞政治傳統的權威性，如果它不能轉變爲具有理論活力的學説，則其地位將岌岌可危，由此而言，丁茶山儒學中的契約論特色，將是東亞儒學發展中值得珍視的傳統資源。

In response to the invasion of Western forces in the 19th century, reformers advocated three theories, of which only the one termed “Japanese spirit and Western techniques” succeeded in social reform in Japan. The other two, “Chinese essence and Western practice” and “Eastern values and Western technology” respectively, failed in other East Asian countries. Most scholars ascribe Japan’s success to the abandonment of Confucianism along with its substance-function philosophy. However, East Asian intellectuals did not abandon traditional thought but continued searching for humanities and social science theories with East Asian characteristics. For intellectuals who revered Western learning, the greatest deficiency of Confucian culture in East Asia was the lack of theories that would tackle practical problems. For this reason, they assumed, hardly any progress could be made as long as the old theories persisted. Is this really the case? This paper is an attempt to study the possible development of Jeong Dasan’s (1762-1836) political theory and to reveal his innovation of Confucianism and its connection with modern philosophy. It argues that Jeong’s idea that “‘humanity ’requires two persons to stay together” (as understood in the structure of the Chinese character ren 仁, which is made up of “two” and “person”) may be compared with social contract theory from the West and therefore has the function of moderating and improving the Confucianism of his time and the possibility of future development. Given Confucianism’s loss of authority in the contemporary world compared with past East Asian political traditions, it will be in jeopardy if there is no transformation and revival of its philosophy. In this crisis, social contract theory in Jeong Dasan’s political thought is a valuable resource for East Asian Confucianism.