皇帝究竟怎么说?儒家政治义务论的公开剧本

“What Did the Emperor Ever Say?”--The Public Transcript of Confucian Political Obligation

官方儒学要求民众在政治上绝对服从,是一个广为流传的理解。尽管有些学者业已对此观念提出异议,但他们尚未清楚地解释官方儒学的政治义务理论。通过研究《圣谕广训》这一清代文献,我指出官方儒学的政治义务论是一种父母恩谢论。亦即,爱民如子的仁政是民众履行政治义务的前提。正如史实所示,这一理论曾指导了清廷与平民之间的论述攻防。例如,当朝廷的政策使得民众的生计艰难时,后者往往诉诸关于父母恩谢论此一公开剧本,来为自己政治上的不服从作辩护。故而,在理论和实践上,官方儒学的政治义务论都不是绝对的服从,而是一种有条件的父母恩谢论。

The idea that imperial Confucianism demands the commoners'absolute political obedience is widespread.Although some scholars have tried to challenge this popular idea,they leave a theory of imperial Confucian political obligation unaddressed.By engaging with political propaganda of the Qing清dynasty,specifically The Amplified Instructions of the Sacred Edict(Sheng Yu Guang Xun圣谕广训),I argue that imperial Confucian political obligation is a theory of paternalistic gratitude.Accordingly,the commoners'political obligation is conditioned upon the ruler's parental benevolence,and as a matter of history,this theory guided discursive interaction between the Qing court and the commoners.Indeed,when the empire's policies made their lives difficult,the commoners tended to appeal to the public transcript of paternalistic gratitude to justify their political disobedience.Both in theory and practice,then,imperial Confucian political obligation is not absolute,but rather a conditional theory of paternalistic gratitude.