「迷信」觀念於清末民初之變遷

Abstract

「迷信」一詞於中國出現的時間甚晚，在1900年以前，「迷信」的使用次數並不多，所指涉的意義多為信仰神仙鬼怪或宗教。1902年開始，「迷信」的使用次數有了明顯的增加，內具的意涵也更豐富，除了用以指涉信仰神仙鬼怪或宗教之外，亦用以泛指未經考察，盲目的信仰崇拜。將1830至1930年間的「迷信」使用次數進行統計，出現兩個高峰，一為1902至1905年之間，另一則為1915年至1921年。以儒家為中心價值的傳統中國社會，本身便具有取代宗教的功能，連帶使得與宗教相關的「迷信」一詞也甚少出現。十九世紀後，西方挾帶強大的軍事及經濟條件叩關，中國不得不開始一連串接收西方科技及制度的過程，科學概念也在此時傳入。而「宗教」在此時，便因其與「科學」對立的原因，隨之被提起，「迷信」一詞也跟著流行，而大量使用。然而，隨著新文化運動前後意識形態自「中學為體，西學為用」轉變為「擁護科學與民主」的過程，使得儒家從原本與「迷信」對揚的地位變成「迷信」所指涉的對象，足以見得中國知識分子對於儒家思想有了截然不同的觀念，而從「迷信」詞條的考察，恰巧得以具體地窺得新文化運動前後意識形態的轉變。

The word ”superstition” appears lately in China. Before 1990, the frequency of its appearance was low, largely referred to the supernatural beings or religions. However, the times of its appearance have obviously increased and its meanings have been extended and become more abundant since 1902. The meanings of the word include not only the supernatural beings or religious beliefs, but the unconfirmed worship. The statistics show that there are two climates in terms of the times of using the word. One occurs from 1902 to 1905 and the other from 1915 to 1921. The Confucianism as the core value in the traditional Chinese society functioned as the substitution for the religion, which caused the idea of the superstition related to the religion occur less frequently. After nineteenth century, due to the strong military and economic invasion of the west, the China could not resist beginning to adopt the technology and the institution from the west, which the science was also introduced at that time. ”The religion” (representing the word entry) began to be noticed because of being opposed to ”the science” (representing the word entry). This phenomenon caused the word ”superstition” to be popular and used widely. Nevertheless, with the ideology of New Culture Movement being shifted to embracing the science and democracy from applying the western science and technology on the basis of the Chinese traditional standards (Zhong Xue Wei Ti, Xi Xue Wei Yong 中學為體，西學為用), the Confucianism, which was originally against superstition, was changed into signifying the superstition. This change of the ideology is enough to reveal that the intellectuals had the absolutely different concepts with respect to the Confucianism. By means of the investigation of the word ”superstition” on the different contexts, it is concretely shown how the ideology in the New Cultural Movement was changed.