<論説>洋学史に関する一考察 : 渡辺崋山を中心として (特集 : 文化交流)

Abstract

渡辺崋山の洋学研究の性格を、研究を始め、進めていった環境と、その成果である「西洋事情御答書」「慎機論」「鴃舌或問」から考察した。特に、彼の洋学研究が、洋学史上盛行期に入る天保期にあって、その学問観倫理観の上に研究の成果を組立て、政治論社会論を展開している事、及び彼の洋学研究の結果としての批判精神を、質的な相違はあるが、洋学史上、むしろ主流外にあった司馬江漢の後をうけるものとして考えてみた。戦後の洋学研究は、沼田次郎氏の「幕末洋学史」を始めとし、岡村千曳氏の「紅毛文化史話」、佐藤昌介氏の諸論文、あるいは諸藩の洋学、洋学資料の発見等、多くの成果があげられている。かかる先学の業績に導かれ、洋学史の二三の問題点を考え、かつ、洋学史の一つの流れとして、洋学研究の成果によって、それぞれの立場から政治・社会を批判した人々の中より江漢・崋山、特に崋山をとりあげ、その洋学研究に就て考察を加えたのである。

Here we treat Kazan's (崋山) environment, in which he began and developed his study, and his laborious works Seiyojijyo-oko-taegaki (西洋事情御答書), Sinkiron (慎機論), and Ôzetsukimon (鴃舌或問) in order to explain the character of his study on the western learning. We have a special concern about his study's systematization based on his view of learning and ethics and his argument on the politics and society in the Tempo (天保) era when it was the better times of western-learning history, and about his critical spirit, as a result of his study on western learning, in spite of their qualitative differences, inherited from Kokan Siba (司馬江漢) who was out of main current in the history of the western learning. Many works on the western learning have been published in the post-bellum period, such as Bakumatsu-Yogakusi (幕末洋学史) by J. Numata (沼田次郎), Kômôbunkasiwa (紅毛文化史話) by C. Ohamura (岡村千曳), many monographs by S. Sato (佐藤昌介), and many discovered resources of some clans. Thanks to these achievements, we take up some points and examine the studies of Kazan and Kokan on the western learning, especially Kazan's, among those who criticized the politics and society of the day from each standpoint by their achievement of the western learning as a current of its history.