吳廷翰的自然氣本論摘要

吳廷翰只比王陽明晚19年出生。他跟羅欽順、王廷相二人一樣，跳出朱子學的框架，又反對新興的陽明心學，創造性地建立起自然氣本論的哲學典範來。他的哲學在中國一直默默無聞，但在日本卻相當地影響、參與了「古學派」的形成。本論文以《吉齋漫錄》為主要對象，疏理其中的哲學理路，闡釋他以氣為本的基本主張（氣即理、氣即道），以及他氣本論進路下的心性論（生之謂性、性即氣、性大於心）和修養工夫論（戒懼慎獨以問學致知、戒懼慎獨以尊美德性的「盡性之學」）。吳廷翰的哲學是明清自然氣本論發展初期一個獨特的型態，其論述話語圓轉渾然，其理論脈絡複雜難辨，學界一直很難對他做出恰當的理解和定位。本論文拿羅欽順、王廷相、戴震的自然氣本論作參照，將吳廷翰隱藏在渾淪語言下的理論脈絡比較清晰地分解開來，確定了他一樣是個自然氣本論者，一樣表現了中國文化脈絡下的「早期現代性」，這對今後關於羅、王、吳哲學的對比考察，明清自然氣本論的整體詮釋，以及東亞儒學史的相關研究，都將有所助益。

又銘的說明：8月27日中午，我寫完〈吳廷翰的自然氣本論〉，立即發出e-mail給小馬，請她幫忙將其中的摘要英譯出來。小馬收到後立即將這燙手山芋轉到中明兄那裡。此後來來回回幾次商議，還曾回頭修訂過中文原稿，最後在8月30日便完成了底下這篇中、英文摘要。中明兄謙稱他只是「摘要商譯者」，其實他是主譯，我只提供了若干漢學英文的材料以及中文原稿裡比較隱晦的意思供他參考、確認而已。總之，「又銘越洋求救，明者慷慨出手」，感激不盡！

Abstract of “Wu Ting-Han’s Naturalistic Qi-based Philosophy”

林中明譯

Wu Tinghan was born only 19 years later after Wang Yangming.  Same as Luo Qinshun and Wang Tingxiang, Wu Tinghan jumped out of Zhuzi School’s frame,  and was rebelling against the newly prosperous Yangming School of The Mind , then he creatively established the paradigm of Naturalistic Qi-based Philosophy.

His philosophy has been unknown to most of the Chinese scholars, yet in Japan, his philosophy had quite an influence, and had participated in the formation of the “Ancient Learning School”.

This paper uses Ji-Zhai-Man-Lu as the main subject for discussion. In this paper, the author explains orderly what was the path that Wu’s philosophical thinking took. Other than that, this paper reports about Wu’s basic claims that were Qi-based ( Qi is reasoning , Qi is “Tao” ) ,  and “Discourse on Disposition” following his Qi-based theory ( life leads to disposition; disposition is Qi, disposition outweighs mind), as well as effort of self-cultivation ( be watchful and cautious when alone so as to  seek knowledge and then beautify the virtuous nature  and finally achieve “full growth of one’s disposition potential” ).

Wu Tinghan’s philosophy was a unique type in the early development of Ming and Ching dynasty’s Naturalistic Qi-Based Philosophy.  The language and words used in his discussion were obscure and ambiguous; and his thinking path was complicated and hard to trace. As a result, the academia has always had difficulties to understand his theories so as to give him a proper position in philosophy history that he deserves.

This paper takes Luo Qinshun, Wang Tingxiang and Dai Zhen’s Naturalistic Qi-Based philosophies as references for the study, and lays down a relatively clearer thinking path of Wu Tinghan’s theory which was hidden under obscure language and writing. By doing so, this author has confirmed that Wu Tinghan was a Naturalistic Qi-Based philosopher, and had exhibited the  early stage of modernity under Chinese cultural thread of thought , and hope this paper will be helpful in future studies regarding how to compare and examine Luo, Wang and Wu’s philosophies, and the understanding of Ming and Qing Dynasty’s Naturalistic Qi-Based Philosophy as a whole, as well as for related Eastern Asian Confucianism History study.

9/2/2005