扬雄与汉代思想——美国汉学家戴梅可论扬雄思想的特征与地位

Yang Xiong and the Han Dynasty Thought:Michael Nylan on the Characteristics and Status of the Thought of Yang Xiong

从20世纪90年代翻译扬雄的《太玄》,到2010年代翻译《法言》,美国汉学家戴梅可在近20年的历程中以扬雄的作品为主要切入点,对汉代思想的研究提出了系统性的见解。在她看来,汉代并不存在所谓儒家的大一统,事实上汉代的思想是多元的,而扬雄的哲学体系正是多元化思想的代表。戴梅可将扬雄誉为汉代最伟大的哲学家,认为汉代最有代表性的思想家不是董仲舒,而是扬雄,扬雄思想中最显著的特点是“乐”。以乐为主线,戴梅可重新建构了中国哲学从战国到宋代的发展脉络,而扬雄则在其中起到了承上启下的作用。在她看来,扬雄不但吸收了先秦诸子之长处,而且奠定了魏晋以降中国思想的发展格局。戴梅可的观念和研究方法为我们的个体思想家和整体思想史研究带来了启发与借鉴。

From her translation of the Taixuan in 1990s to the Fayan in 2010,Michael Nylan has been researching the Han dynasty thought,and has formed her unique and systematic insight,focusing on Yang Xiong’s works.She claimed that the so called Confucian“Orthodox Synthesis”in the Han dynasty did not exist at all,contrarily the Han dynasty found its thoughts diverse actually.Yang Xiong’s thought is a good example of such diversity.Nylan considered Yang Xiong as the greatest philosopher in the Han dynasty,believing that the Yang Xiong’s thoughts was featured with the interpretation of pleasure.Focusing on pleasure,Nylan reconstructed the process of the development of Chinese philosophy from the Warring States to the Song dynasty,in which Yang Xiong played a transitional role.Nylan deemed that Yang Xiong inherited the tradition of philosophers in pre-Han period and influenced later thinkers from the Jin dynasty to the Song dynasty.Her arguments and methodologies are enlightening.However,some points remain controversial.