「王霸問題」是中國政治思想的核心問題之一，此一問題在東周時期就已經被提出。當時的典籍雖然「尊王」，但「不黜霸」，它們分辨王霸大多從兩個角度：政治判斷或道德判斷。若用政治判斷來分辨王霸，則把王霸視為不同的政治名號或不同的政治實力；若用道德判斷來分辨王霸，則行事的動機與風格較完美者稱為「王」，行事的動機與風格遜於王者稱為「霸」。當時只有孟子獨排眾議，採取「尊王黜霸」的觀點，孟子採取如此觀點則與當時的客觀環境與其自身的價值觀和人性論有關。 宋朝是討論王霸問題的另一個高峰，當時的朱熹和陳亮曾對漢唐君主是否為「王」的問題進行了激烈辯論，但因為兩人在許多觀念的基本預設並不相同，所以兩人始終無法說服對方。不過這一次爭辯帶出了道德和事功在「內聖外王」的框架下，有時的確會產生無法融合的衝突。關於此一問題，牟宗三以肯定英雄豪傑的「生命的直覺」與將歷史人物、事件放入「歷史判斷」的方式解決。 本論文便以「王霸問題研究」為題，以上述的孟子、朱熹和陳亮的觀點為主幹，用鉅觀的方式討論此一問題，並兼論此一問題的現代啟發。 “Differences between Wang (emperor/ruling by benevolence) and Ba (feudal vassal/ruling by power)” is one of the core issues in Chinese political ideology mentioned in the East Zhou Dynasty. Although “the Wang was revered” in the records then, “the Ba were not dismissed”. “Differences between Wang and Ba” was mostly analyzed into two perspectives: political judgment and ethical judgment. In political judgment, “differences between Wang and Ba” was regarded as a political position or political power in ethical judgment, the one whose motivations and manners of conduct were closer to perfection was named “Wang” and the one who was inferior to the Wang was called “Ba”. During that era, only Mencius held his own opinion against that of the majority, taking the approach of “reverence of the Wang and dismissal of the Ba”. He upheld such a viewpoint because of the objective environment at that time and his own theory of humanity. After the East Zhou Dynasty, this issue was still keenly discussed. The Song Dynasty was another peak to discuss the differences between Wang and Ba. Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) and Chen Liang once held a lively debate about whether the rulers in the Han and Tang Dynasty were “Wang” however, because their basic assumptions of values were quite different, neither of them could convince the other through the debate. Nevertheless, in this debate it was brought up that under the framework of “Nei-sheng wai-wang” (internal saint and external emperors/not only an emperor but also a saint), the conflict of ethics and achievements sometimes could not always coexist. Later, a famous scholar, Mr. Mou Zongsan (Mou Tsung-san) also mentioned that the outstanding heroes were born to be leaders and he believed those historic figures and events could be tested through the historical judgment. This study is mainly on the subject of “the differences between Wang and Ba”. I will show you the whole picture of the issue and its modern enlightenment with the backbone of Mencius', Zhu Xi's and Chen Liang's arguments.
