“世界四圣”框架下的日本孔子观:基于对和辻哲郎的症候式分析

Japanese Understanding of Confucius under the Framework of Four Great Saints of the World:An Analysis of Tetsuro Watsuji’s Confucius

和辻哲郎的《孔子》一书标示着日本学界进入现代以后对孔子的认识有了一些显著变化。和辻哲郎从“世界四圣”的角度理解孔子。这一观点脱胎自井上圆了的“哲学四圣”,着重强调孔子的影响主要不在其生时,而是经过孔门历代弟子的弘扬,从而让孔子从鲁国一夫子,跻身为“人类的教师”。这一观点和《史记》以来的叙事传统实则是背离的,和辻哲郎也竭力想要剥离那些附着在孔子身上的不实之辞,因此,他的研究呈现出一种明显的“祛魅”特征。和辻哲郎的观点和日后由雅斯贝尔斯提出的“轴心时代”有异曲同工之妙;但对和辻哲郎而言,更核心的问题是要通过对孔子的“祛魅”,确立日本文化在世界图景中的坐标,这和雅斯贝尔斯有着根本性的不同。

Tetsuro Watsuji’s book Confucius marks some significant changes in the understanding of Confucius in Japan since the Meiji era.He understands Confucius under the framework of Four Great Saints of the World,which is based upon Enryo Inoue’s Four Great Saints of Philosophy.He emphasizes that Confucius’influence was not prominent during his lifetime,but was promoted by successive generations of Confucian disciples,thus transforming Confucius from an intellectual in the state of Lu to a teacher of human race.This view departs from the narrative tradition of Records of the Grand Historian.Watsuji also tries to strip away the falsehoods attached to Confucius,so that his study has a distinct character of de-consecration.Watsuji’s idea is similar to the Axial Age,later proposed by Karl Jaspers,but for Watsuji,the more central issue is to establish the coordinates of Japanese culture in the world through the de-consecration of Confucius,which is fundamentally different from Jaspers’ambition.