是谁误解了“三纲”?——答复李存山教授

Who Misunderstands San-gang——Responding to Professor Li Cun-shan

李存山先生最近在批评笔者的文章中,为学术界长期流行的"三纲"观念辩护,即把"三纲"理解为臣对君、子对父、妇对夫"尽单方面的绝对的义务",认为它代表绝对的等级划分,让人们无条件地服从于权威。本文在回应中说明"李文"对董仲舒、《白虎通》及汉儒存在误解,认为"三纲"思想在先秦儒家典籍里清晰可见,并非汉儒为了适应秦汉以后大一统的集权统治需要而进行的新创;汉儒在强调谏诤方面与先秦儒学无别,其"三纲"思想不能理解为绝对服从或绝对尊卑。将"三纲"归因于汉儒,以为可以撇清一些历史问题,其实是撇不清的。

In his recent critical article towards the author,Professor Li Cun-shan defended for his standpoint on san-gang(Three Rules),arguing that san-gang,as one part of the most famous Confucian political thoughts,does represent 'absolute submission' or 'absolute hierarchy,' implying unconditionally following authority.As a response of Professor Li,this article re-examines Dong Zhong-shu's writings and modern misinterpretations of him,analyzing how modern scholars misunderstand Confucian san-gang,and arrives at the conclusion that san-gang was neither initiated by scholars of the Han Dynasty due to the requirement of centralization,nor implying 'absolute submission' or 'absolute hierarchy.' There is no discrepancy between Confucians of the Han Dynasty and those in the pre-Qin era in stressing the importance of criticizing one's superiors.Moreover,it is not a good strategy to defend Confucianism by means of claiming that san-gang was created by Han scholars.