海保青陵経世思想の一試論

Abstract

本稿旨在探討儒教文化在日本近代經濟倫理形成中的角色，並以江戶時代經世思想家海保青陵（1755～1817）為中心進行分析。 青陵在倫理上以徂徠學為基礎，重構朱子學「天理」論，融入老莊思想，主張「天理」具可知性與功能性，並以「定位」「空位」概念說明個人與環境的互動，展現出個人主體性與理性自由的傾向。 在個人以及組織層級的倫理實踐上，他提出「君臣市道」，以「産物マワシ」統合家臣與經濟活動，藉「樞密之術」強化獎懲與監察，推動富國與財政改革。 而在政治上，青陵借鑑提出和平時代的「霸道」重商主義，否定朱子學「不與民爭利」，倡導簡法嚴刑與藩政商業化以應對財政與災害問題。然而，由於日本江戶時代延續至日後日本帝國軍國主義的「兵營國家」色彩，筆者認為青陵的霸道論並不能單純的以傳統儒學脈絡下之「王道」「霸道」二元對立的方式進行理解，而是在日本朱子學與兵學之間的相互影響、對立之背景下進行對照。故而應解釋為一種借用法家觀念擴張「兵營」組織的功能性，以同時具備兵營性質的「藩」為單位從事商業營利行為。 總體而言，青陵的思想雖具改革性與現實主義色彩，但過度功利，缺乏類似新教倫理的宗教超越性。「空位」理論雖然在某種意義上承認了人類在精神面上的潛在同等，與「霸道論」結合時卻基於維持政治穩定而提出了以「智」、「力」為基準劃分階層的社會結構。青陵的這種立場，或許是其日後未能孕育出自由民主經濟思想的原因之一；然而，其根植於當時日本背景與漢學素養所發展出的人類圖像，在一定程度上提供了一種以「兵營國家」的狀態，重新適應市場經濟社會的倫理架構。這種架構日後是否有被繼承下去，可能可以成為重新審視日本近代化過程的一項著眼點。

This article aims to clarify the role that Confucian culture played in the formation of Japan’s modern economic ethics, focusing on the Edo-period thinker of statecraft (経世思想), Kaiho Seiryo（1755～1817）. From an ethical-philosophical perspective, Seiryo, building on Sorai learning, integrated the Neo-Confucian concept of “Heavenly Principle” (天理) with ideas from Lao-Zhuang thought. He thereby reconceived tenri as an intelligible and functional principle and employed the paired, relative concepts of “settled position” (定位) and “empty position” (空位) to explain the reciprocal relationship between individual agency and its environment or doctrines. In doing so, he developed a view of the human being that explains the mutual relationship between the individual subject and its environment or doctrines. At the level of ethical practice for individuals and organizations, Seiryo advocated the principle of “the lord–retainer relation as market ethics” (君臣市道). Through the policy of sanbutsu mawashi (the circulation/management of products), he sought to integrate retainers into economic activity; and through what he called the “techniques of confidential governance” (枢密の術), he strengthened rewards and punishments as well as internal surveillance within feudal organizations, thereby promoting policies of national enrichment and fiscal reform. Politically, Seiryo proposed a “hādō（覇道）” (hegemonic) mercantilism suited to an era of peace. Rejecting the Neo-Confucian stance of “not contending with the people for profit,” he presented guidelines such as “simple laws and severe punishments” (簡法厳刑) and commercial reforms of domain administration as remedies for fiscal distress and social crisis. Because the bakuhan state in the Edo period possessed a strong aspect of a “barracks state,” which also influenced later Japanese militarism, it is inadequate to understand Seiryo’s hādō theory solely through the traditional Confucian binary of “kingly way” (王道) versus “hegemonic way” (覇道). Rather, it should be grasped as a product generated through the mutual influence and tension between Neo-Confucianism and military learning. Accordingly, this article argues that Seiryo’s hādō theory, drawing on conceptual resources associated with Chinese Legalism, should be understood as an ideology that sought to commercially transform the domain (藩) as a “barracks” organization. Overall, while Seiryo’s thought was reformist and realist in character, it also exhibited a strong utilitarian inclination and a lack of religious transcendence comparable to Protestantism. In his theory of the “empty position” (空位), Seiryo acknowledged a potential homogeneity in human spirituality; yet in his hādō theory he justified political stability by distributing “wisdom” (智) and “power” (力) hierarchically, thereby presenting a scheme in which subjectivity is differentiated according to status. This may help explain why Seiryo’s thought did not later develop into a liberal-democratic form of economic thought. At the same time, the image of the human being he developed—rooted in the historical conditions of Japanese society and a Sinological intellectual foundation—can also be seen as presenting an ethical constitutive principle for adapting to a market economy while retaining the form of a “barracks state.” How such an ethical structure was subsequently inherited or transformed may thus provide an important vantage point for reexamining Japan’s modernization process.