俞樾《諸子平議·賈子》評析

Yu Yue (1821-1907) was a distinguished scholar of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), whose tremendous achievements in the study of the Chinese classics and philology have been greatly respected to this day. His Zhuzi Pingyi (Commentaries on Writings by Various Philosophers) continues to be an essential reference for Chinese philologists. However, the authors of this paper argue that his commentaries on the Jiazi, more commonly known as Xinshu (traditionally attributed to Jia Yi [200-169 BC], would have been more convincing had further investigation and refinements been done. The present study is an attempt to conduct a penetrating study of the successes and failures of Yu's work. Fourteen examples from the Jiazi will be discussed in detail and it is hoped that the questions raised in this essay will form the basis for further research.