從《經法》中的政治思維論「道」與「天」的意義

Abstract

自1973年以降，學界對「馬王堆《老子》乙本卷前古佚書」的研究陸續進行，也隨之積累著研究成果。然多數研究對於文本的「身分問題」皆存有成見，因而導致研究方法與成果上的缺陷。筆者的目的，即在於翻轉此一現有的方法，並嘗試得到不同於以往的研究成果。 本研究的具體研究目標，在於理解「馬王堆《老子》乙本卷前古佚書」中，《經法》部分的政治思想與「天」、「道」兩概念的關係？以此主題為研究對象，筆者將嘗試於本研究中依序證成四項相互關聯的論證。 第一，藉由對二手研究的分析，提出以往研究方法皆預設「馬王堆《老子》乙本卷前古佚書」四部分出自同一著作，並點出此預設缺乏詳實之證據，並進一步說明筆者獨立探討《經法》的合理性；第二，立基於合理的研究方法之上，嘗試整理出《經法》中的主要關懷的議題，即是可化約為「統治者行為」的「政治思想」，且此政治思想與「道」概念似有一定的關聯性；第三，點出以往對於《經法》中「道」概念研究的缺失，並整理《經法》中「道」概念的性質與重要性，同時指出「天」概念包含進一步理解「道」概念的資訊；第四，歸納出對於《經法》中「天」概念的最理想詮釋，並且藉此詮釋理解《經法》中「道」概念的意義以及《經法》中「天」與「道」概念的理論地位。

Ever since scholars started studying the ancient lost manuscripts preceding Version B of the Mawangdui Laozi in 1973, a good number of research results have been published. Nevertheless, as much of the research is premised on questionable views regarding the identity of these manuscripts, research methods and related results are compromised. It is my aim to change the current methodology and to arrive at a different set of conclusions. The concrete goal of my work is to understand the relation between the political thought and the concepts of ‘tian’ (天) and ‘dao’ (道) in the Canonical Laws (Jingfa 經法) of the manuscripts. Following this line of inquiry, I attempt to justify four related claims. Firstly, research on the ancient lost manuscripts preceding Version B of the Mawangdui Laozi is based on the ungrounded assumption that these manuscripts are authored by a single hand; it is reasonable to focus exclusively on the Canonical Laws. Secondly, the main concern of the Canonical Laws is political thought, with a focus on the behavior of the ruler; this political thought is relevant to the notion of ‘dao.’ Thirdly, since the current research on the notion of ‘dao’ in the Canonical Laws is flawed, a new analysis of the characteristics and the importance of the notion of ‘dao’ is needed; such analysis reveals that the notion of ‘tian’ may contain useful information for an accurate understanding of ‘dao.’ Fourthly, through a careful interpretation of the notion of ‘tian,’ we can come to a better understanding of the notion of ‘dao’ as well as the respective theoretical positions of both these notions in the Canonical Laws.