从东亚视域论德川日本儒者的伦理学立场

The Ethical Stance of Tokugawa Japanese Confucian Philosophers

本文分析德川时代日本儒者之伦理学的本质、主要论点及其潜在问题。本文第一节首先指出日本儒者的伦理学之基本性质是一种"功效伦理学",主张"善"不建立在行为者的"存心"之上(因此,他们也反对"治心"),而是在"善"所达成的效用之上。本文第二节以日本儒者的管仲论与唐太宗论为例证,分析日本儒者主张"德行"必落实在"功业"之上,所以"功业"先于"德行"。本文第三节再以儒家核心价值"仁"与"道"为中心,析论日本儒者的"功效伦理学"立场,使他们将德行义的"仁"与"道"转化为效用义的"仁"与"道"。本文第四节说明日本儒者的"功效伦理学"实浸润在广袤的德川实学思想脉络之中,他们所持的"功业"优先论与"仁"之效用义,皆是德川实学精神的表现。此种"实学"脉络中的"功效伦理学"之问题在于:只关怀"善能产生何种效果",而忽视"善如何可能",可能使"理想"被"现实"所出卖。本文结论认为:日本儒者的"功效伦理学"因为忽视"善"之内在价值,从而使"善"之主体性与自主性难以建立。

This article argues that Tokugawa Japanese Confucian philosophers were inclined to utilitarian ethics as opposed to intentional ethics.This ethical stance manifested itself in Japanese Confucian philosophers'comments on historical personages and reinterpretations of the Confucian core values such as the humanity(Jen,仁)and the Way(Dao,道).We argue in section 1that Japanese Confucians insisted that the 'goodness'was not made possible by one's good intention,but in the effects of his deeds.We assert in section 2that Japanese Confucians placed the priority of achievement over virtue in their comments on Kuanzhong(管仲)and Tang Taizong(唐太宗).In section 3and 4,we argue that Japanese Confucian philosophers had interpreted Confucian core values,humanity and the Way,in an utilitarian perspective.Moreover,their'utilitarian ethics'were deeply imbued in the spirit of pragmatism(jitsugaku,实学)in the Japanese tradition.Therefore,the question of'how is virtue possible'had been turned into the question of'what are the results of virtue.'In the Japanese Confucian utilitarian ethics,the moral ideal can easily be betrayed by the reality of history.We conclude by indicating that the intrinsic value of morality in Japanese Confucian ethics may readily be ignored and the subjectivity and autonomy of morality may hardly be affirmed.