大道中庸：《論人》與儒家

Abstract

亞歷山大．蒲柏的哲學長詩《論人》（1733）與中國儒家文本間存在諸多類似，本文擬從自然、心理及社會三方面加以研討。對於蒲柏與儒家，不論人類內心和諧，還是社會組織和諧，皆建立於宇宙宏大和諧基礎之上。蒲柏與孔子視中庸為理想生活之道德標準。然而，與儒家中庸相比，蒲柏式中庸顯得孤立而機械，因為詩人沒有看到內部和諧與宇宙和諧間可能的相互作用。蒲柏與儒家對於中庸的近似理解可追溯到萊布尼茲與博林布魯克（Bolingbroke）的影響。二人皆以極大熱情，深研儒家。從大背景看，蒲柏中庸觀之形成，深植於十七、十八世紀歐洲漢學。

This paper examines the parallels between the natural, psychological, and social harmony in Alexander Pope’s philosophical poem An Essay on Man (1733-34) and various Confucian texts. Both Pope and Confucians base psychological and social harmony on a cosmos that brings apparently contending movements towards higher uniformity, and both Pope and Confucius identify an ethical mean as the ideal of life. Popean harmony, compared with Confucian harmony, remains mechanical and isolated because Pope fails to address the possible interactions between inner and outer harmony. The similarities between Popean and Confucian harmony may be traced to the influences of Leibniz and Bolingbroke who studied Confucianism with great interest, and more probably, to the general enthusiasm for sinology in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries.