从学术史论陈白沙的焚书说

Chen Baisha's Book Burning Theory Viewed from Academic History

明代大儒陈白沙曾提出过焚书的思想。他认为:第一,书籍太多不容易专精;第二;书籍太杂,违背儒家思想的旁门邪说就会很多,容易误导人们走向邪路。其实焚书思想在先秦就有。孔子删《诗》《书》就是对不符合儒家思想的文献予以剪除;战国时代法家的焚书思想与之有一脉相通之处,但法家代表商鞅、李斯主张焚烧儒家经典,是担心儒家经典扰乱国家法制。西汉儒家董仲舒主张"罢黜百家、独尊儒术",与法家反对儒家的立场正相反,但在文化专制主义这点上,儒家和法家几乎相同。倒是杂家的《吕氏春秋》既能认识到思想混乱的危害,也能认识到思想过分统一的危害,见解最为圆通。陈白沙的焚书说实际上是继承了学术史上法家和儒家的思想传统。

The great Ming Dynasty scholar Chen Baisha once proposed the idea of burning books. He believed that: First,it was not easy to master too many books; second,books too miscellaneous would lead to heresy going against Confucianism and would likely lead people astray. In fact,the idea of book burning had already existed in the pre-Qin periods. Confucius deleted content from The Shijing( Classic of Poetry) and The Shujing( Classic of Documents) with a view to weeding out ideas not conforming to the Confucian thought. In the Warring States period,the Legalist idea of burning books was very similar to Confucius' practice,but representatives of the Legalist school Shang Yang and Li Si advocated burning Confucian classics,fearing that Confucian classics would disrupt the national legal system. The great Western Han Dynasty Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu advocated'Paying Supreme? Tribute to Confucianism while Banning All Other Schools of Thought',contrary to the Legalist practice. Thus Confucianism and Legalism had in common cultural despotism. Lu's Commentaries of History( Lu Shi Chun Qiu) of the Eclectic School,realizing not only the harm of ideological confusion but also the harm of unified thinking,held an accommodating idea. Chen Baisha's theory of book burning actually inherited the Legalist and Confucian ideological traditions.