陸賈「新語」の研究

Abstract

Lu Chia 陸賈 was a Confucian statesman who flourished at the beginning of the Han dynasty. He dedicated the work by which he is known, the Hsin-yü, 新語 to Kao-tsu, 高祖 the first Han emperor, in the hope that it would lead to the establishment of a just government based on Confucian principles. Unfortunately, the present text of the Hsin-yü is replete with errors and omissions which render it virtually unintelligible. Various scholars, most prominently Sung Hsiang-feng have endeavored to restore the text by comparing it with fragments and passages which have survived as quotations in other works, for example, the Ch'ün-shu chih-yao 群書治要, preserved in Japan since T'ang times. Nevertheless, there remain a good many omissions and corruptions. The writer, therefore, has made a thorough emendation of the text in accodance with the demands of logic and style. Lu Chia was a successor of Hsün-tzu 荀子 who, during the Han, was considered the representative of orthodox Confucian thought. In particular, Lu adopted Hsün-tzu's hou-wang 後王 concept, that is, that "the later kings are superior to the former ones." Inevitably, therefore, he embraces a conception of history and of human society that is progressive. He regards Taoism as the friend of Confucianism but feels strong antagonism toward the Legalists 法家 and "the practitioners of the arts of immortality" 神仙家 both of whom had thrived under the Ch'in. The terms yin-yang 陰陽 ("positive and negative principles") and wu-hsing 五行 ("the five elements") do appear in the Hsin-yu, but they do not signify anything in the nature of fatalism or an inevitably recurring pattern. In general, his ideas were attuned to the main currents of thought of the Warring States period and they opened the door to the Confucian idealism of the Han period.