江声《恒星说》考论——西方天文算学对乾嘉吴派学术之影响

Study On Jiang Sheng's Heng Xing Shuo——the impact to the Wu School by Western Astronomy at Qianlong and Jiaqing reign,Qing Dynasty

中科院自然科学史研究所藏有乾嘉学者江声(1721—1799)所著近市居本《恒星说》。他用小篆字体写此书有两个原因:一是乾嘉吴派重视古文字的传统,二是江声酷爱《说文》,并把篆字推广到自己的日常生活交往之中。《恒星说》用当时认为最精确的西法岁差数值,推算《礼记.月令》成书年代天象,重新论证了东汉郑玄关于《月令》源于《吕氏春秋》这一古老命题,显示出乾嘉学者辨别古经源流的进一步科学化倾向。然而江声论证过程中忽略了西法的适用条件,造成缺陷。汉学科学化倾向的形成与江声所在的时代和地域相关联,但由于江声本人及其本学派的固有成见,江声的老疾,以及学术风尚的转向等原因,这种倾向不能继续发展。

Library at Institute for the History of Natural Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, has collected Heng Xing Shuo （ 《恒星说》, Talk about the stars and precession） which was written by Jiang Sheng, a famous scholar in Qing Dynasty, and published by Jin Shi Ju（近市居, a house near market） with seal characters. The reasons that Jiang Sheng used this ancient character was the tradition emphasized by Wu School and the extension from research to live by Jiang Sheng. Heng Xing Shuo used the value of precession from West, and calculated the celestial phenomena which appeared at the published age of Li Ji Yue Ling （ 《礼记·月令》 Every Month＇s Appropriate Things in the Ritual Record）, hence reconfirmed the Zheng Xuan＇s（羊绒玄） conclusion that Li Ji Yue Ling was originated from L ti Shi Chun Qiu （《吕氏春秋》 , A History written by L ti Buwei）. The method scholars used for distinguishing the origin of the classics at that time had been become more scientific. But Jiang Sheng also ignored the scope of application of Western method, and his demonstrations had drawbacks. This scientific method in the Han school of classical philology had relevance to the Qianlong and Jiaqing reign. However, because of Jiang Sheng＇s stereotype, his oldness and sick and the research atmosphere, the scientific method did not go on.