錢穆的考信史學——以錢氏早年的孔子研究爲例

Qian Mu’s Historical Methods of Testing the Truth - Through the Examples of Qian’s Early Studies of Confucius

Abstract

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

本文根據錢穆二十一三十年代幾部重要的學術思想史著作——主要包括《論語要略》、《國學概論》、《先秦諸子繫年》等書，探討錢氏一套獨特的治史方式與風格；考察錢氏在上述諸書中有關孔子史事的論述，如何匯通經、史、子各部的史料，進行精細的考訂與辨疑，廓清障蔽迷霧，從而爲日後學界建立一個如其實在的孔子形象。錢氏早年的孔子研究，一洗“五四”以來極端疑古反孔的浮風惡習，把史學研究帶上考信之途。更有進者，錢氏將《論語》一書，由作爲孔門師弟思想言行表現的記録，變成爲一種可能有可靠年序的歷史記事的原典，可與《史記》、《左傳》等史籍參補互證。此實爲錢氏考信史學之又一項重要成就。

This paper relies on a number of Qian Mu’s important academic works on intellectual history published in the 1920s and 1930s; these include Lunyu Yaolue (The Outline of Analects of Confucius), Guoxue Gailun (An Introduction to Chinese Studies), Xianqin Zhuzi Xinian (The Chronology of Different Schools of Pre-Qin Period), and others, and aims at evaluating Qian’ s unique methods and style of studying history. Through an examination of Qian’s descriptions of Confucius in the above works, this paper shows that Qian had conducted careful evaluation, criticism, analyses, and clarification of historical sources of the books like Jing (Conjucian Classics), Shi (Ancient History) and Zi (Books of Pre-Qin Philosophers), and thus constructed a highly reliable biography of Confucius for the later scholarly circles. Qian Mu’s early studies of Confucius refuted that the extremely critical portrayal of Confucius since the May Fourth Movement, and emphasized the significance of testing the truth in historical studies. More importantly, Qian used Lunyu (Analects of Confucius) as the record of the thoughts and behavior of Confucius and his students, and thus acknowledged the book as a primary source for the chronology of historical events, putting it on the same footing as Shiji (Historical Records) and Zuozhuan. These are the significant achievements of Qian Mu’s historical methods of testing the truth.