“孔子出而有经之名”驳议--皮锡瑞《经学历史》的论证问题

A Refutation of Pi Xirui’s Claim that the Name“Classic”Originated from Confucius

皮锡瑞不仅主张孔子作六经,还认为“经之名”出自孔子。然而,他在《经学历史》中提出的五项证据都是不能成立的。在此之前,龚自珍《六经正名》已提出了两项皮锡瑞没有面对的反证。要证成“经之名”源于孔子,比证成孔子与六经的关系更加困难。皮锡瑞为了证明“孔教”仍然有用,故此格外坚持“孔子之教”,遂把“经”之名也要追溯至孔子头上。这是多了举证责任,却又无法圆满地佐证其说。相比之下,龚自珍“天下有六经久矣”之说,比皮氏之说更高明,也更经得起推敲。

Qing Dynasty scholar Pi Xirui not only believed that all the Six original Classics were written by Confucius himself,he even argued that the name"Classic"started with Confucius.In his book A History of the Studies of Confucian Classics,he listed five arguments to support his claim,but all of them are flawed.Gong Zizhen had already successfully argued against this claim.While it is not exceedingly difficult to demonstrate that Confucius has some type of relationship to all of the six classics,it is much harder to prove that the name"classic"started with him.Gong’s line of argumentation has proven to be able to withstand the test of time more than Pi’s.