卫道、救时与应时:晚清湖湘理学的学术特色与价值研究

Defending the Dao,Saving the Nation and Dealing the Times——Academic Characteristics and Value of Huxiang Neo-Confucianism in the Late Qing Dynasty

评价晚清湖湘理学,需要将其置于理学史乃至整个儒学史的学术框架之内。晚清时期,社会危机日益严重,学术风气发生转变,汉学衰落,理学复兴。晚清湖湘理学上承南宋时期的湖湘学派,兴起于嘉道,于咸同年间发展到鼎盛。晚清湖湘理学家们不仅重视修史辨学以卫道,更强调义理经世以救时,并注重因应时代,主张有限度地吸纳西学,成为"中体西用"说的有力倡导者和实践者。他们不仅直接推动了理学在晚清的复兴,而且积极促成了"同治中兴"局面的出现,但由于在学理上鲜有创新,最终没有改变自身乃至儒学总体衰落的命运。

To evaluate Huxiang Neo-Confucianism in the late Qing Dynasty, it is necessary to place it in the academic framework of the history of Neo-Confucianism and even the history of Confucianism. During the late Qing Dynasty, social crisis became more and more serious;academic atmosphere changed;studies of Chinese ancient culture declined;Neo-Confucianism revived. In the late Qing Dynasty, Huxiang Neo-Confucianism was inherited from the Southern Song Dynasty, founded in Jiaqing and Daoguang dynasties and developed into the most prosperous period in Xianfeng and Tongzhi. In the late Qing Dynasty, Huxiang philosophers not only attached great importance to the compilation of the history to defend the Tao, but also emphasized the importance of administering the state affairs to save the nation, and also paid attention to dealing with the times. They advocated a limited absorption of the Western learning, and became powerful initiators and practitioners of the theory of "making Western things serve China". They not only directly promoted the revival of Neo-Confucianism in the late Qing Dynasty, but also actively helped bring about the emergence of "Tongzhi Resurgence". However, due to the lack of innovation in theory, they did not in the end change the fate of themselves, not to say the overall decline of Confucianism.