「文學」與「『文』學」: 晚明胡應麟對金華詩文學術傳統的重省

Abstract

From the twelfth to sixteenth century, Neo-confucianism was a major orientation within the intellectual culture of Jinhua 金華 represented by scholar such as Lu Zuqian 呂祖謙 (1137-1181) in the Southern Song and Zhang Mao 章懋 (1436-1521) in the mid-Ming dynasty, which has often been considered one of the many significant intellectual trends in pre-modern China. But as social and intellectual historian Peter K. Bol has pointed out, the intellectual pursuits of the Jinhua school changed during the reign of the Wanli emperor. Hu Yingling 胡應麟 (1551-1602), in particular, advocated erudition and evidential scholarship. As opposed to his contemporaries who downplayed the importance of literary talent, Hu embraced the integration of wen 文 (belles lettres, also refers to "literature" or a "textual-cultural tradition") and xue 學 (scholarly learning). Hu reinterpreted the relationship and interplay between the two intellectual branches, and incorporated the four categories -- the Confucian classics, history, masters, and collections of belle lettres -- under the Confucian concept wenxue 「文」學 (cultural learning). Adopting this as a foundation, Hu reflected upon local scholarly tradition and identified wenxue 文學 (literature) as the essence of Jinhua learning instead of Neo-confucianism. By replacing Lu Zuqian with Liu Jun 劉峻 as the origin of local learning, the connotation of literary scholars within the local setting hence shifted from Neo-confucians to persons of cultural talent, and using the concept of "broadening culture," Hu linked the cultural traditions of Jinhua with that of Confucius's hometown located in the state of Lu 魯. Through this re-evaluation of the nature and value of the study of belles lettres and erudition, as well as Jinhua scholarly traditions, the present paper aims to enhance our understanding of Ming intellectual history.