The School Belonging of the Guishen zhi Ming Section in the Bamboo Slips Collection of Shanghai Museum

Abstract

Guishen zhi Ming ( 鬼神之明) is a section of the published Chu Bamboo Slips of the Warring States Period in Shanghai Museum Collection, which primarily addressed the issue of what the ghosts and deities known and unknown. In terms of its school, some scholar classified it as Mohist work, while some others disagree with that. This article argues that although the bamboo slips mentioned that the ghosts and deities have something they do not know, but the essential thought of this whole section differs from contemporary Confucianism, and have some similarities with the Mohist doctrine. In addition, the logic of this section is also consonant to the theory of Mohist Canons. 《鬼神之明》刊载于上博简第五册，主要讨论鬼神“有所明”与“有所不明”的问题。自竹书发表后，不少学者曾就其学术派别的问题作出论述，当中有认为《鬼神之明》为墨学作品，但亦有持反对意见，以为竹书是反墨、墨学异端甚或是儒学之作。本文透过《鬼神之明》内容的剖析，指出篇中虽然提及鬼神“有所不明”之说，但所反映的思想在本质上实与春秋战国时期儒家的鬼神观有所不同，且部分更与墨家有暗合之处。此外，本文通过篇中思维方式与《墨经》逻辑学说的相参照，提出两者实有不少可比观的地方。