《四库提要》所见盛清学术偏见一例

An Example of High Qing Academic Bias Seen in the Imperial Catalog of the Four Treasuries

盛清乾嘉时代的考据学，以严谨客观著称于世，作者言必有征，因此也言而可信，结果便是新知新见的呈现。乾隆四十七年（1782）成书的《钦定四库全书总目》，正是这门学术的高度成就的表现。文章通过比较《四库提要》所载明朝中叶有名士大夫岳正（1418～1472）的两本著作的提要和这两篇提要所出的原书，发现这两书内容基本相同而提要则评价迥异其词。考据其故，发现这其实和提要撰写人以及《四库提要》一书的总纂官纪昀在学术上、政治上、感情上的亲好和认同情形有关。结论认为，《四库提要》内容素质参差，反映了官家编纂项目缺乏一致性的毛病，而撰写提要的馆臣，往往因其所持之特殊观点或立场，影响到对于一书的客观评价。读者同时需要明白提要原书作者的历史评价以及提要撰者的个人品格和好尚，才能不为其偏见所宥。

High Qing(Qianlong and Jiaqing periods) scholarship is well-known for its achievements in objective,evidentiary study in the classics,history,philosophy,literature,language,among other subjects.The Imperial Catalog of the Four Treasuries(Sikuquanshu zongmu),containing critical abstracts of all the books held by the Imperial Library,in particular,showcases the official achievement in this scholarship.The present paper,however,shows that the imperial catalogers,despite their training in rigorous evidential scholarship,were not free from bias derived from intellectual preference and traditional moral influence.The same writings by Yue Zheng,a mid fifteenth-century scholar-official of personal integrity and reputation,are found diametrically evaluated in two differently authored abstracts.The value of the version of Yue's works that identified him as the author receives a positive evaluation but the version whose authorship was anonymous receives a critical evaluation.The bias shown in the positive evaluation,as argued,is much the result of local pride and a respect for worthy personalities rather than of mere intellectual preference.