孟學發展值至十、十一世紀漸受士林重視，歷來註孟、釋孟者增多，然排孟、詆孟者亦不乏，《孟子》正統地位的確立，值至南宋，經學推尊活動可謂是承先啟後的重要關鍵。朱熹《四書集註》大成，《孟子》由子部入「經部」，經典的升格，孟子正式配享入孔廟。朱學的籠罩，歷經元、明二代，朱熹配與孔孟同祀，程朱理學便奉為「官學」，《四書》欽定為科舉應試的定本，朱學榮登學術與治術之獨尊，官學統治之影響而學風至巨，孟學為列也蔚為顯學之要。《四書》影響極至，孟學大盛，士子無不奉為圭臬，趨之若驚而著作斐然，孟學發展可謂達至鼎盛。而後，明代上承元代，推崇程朱，然心學的興起，亦激起莫大的反響，值自十七、十八世紀，清儒便開始對程朱理學展開批判。尤其，以戴震身為反程朱之魁傑，效法孟子辯楊墨以辨程朱，推波逐瀾地掀起一股批判風潮。戴震批判程朱，主張返回孔孟道統，解放數百年政治箝制僵化下的孟學。本文所欲探討的是，戴震何以「求觀聖人之道，必自孟子始枉狂攔不得不作《孟子字義疏證》？抨擊程朱「以理殺人」，撻伐「盡以意見誤名之曰『理』而禍斯民」？廓清此之原委，必須溯源戴震釋孟背景的始末，遂此，做為本文論述進路。首先，追溯明清之際註孟背景的歷史脈絡；其次，理解戴震釋孟的疏證立論及方法；再者，探源戴震以返歸孟子為本懷，「故訓以明理義」實證孟學，所開啟是西方詮釋學脈絡下的「原意理解」？或「不同理解」？此目的之所在，盼能彰顯戴震這別其特意清代另一扉遂情達欲的新孟學。
From the 10th and 11th centuries, the Mencius philosophy gradually attracted interests among Chinese scholars. Many Confucian scholars started to annotate Mencius philosophy while others had critiques on it. During the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu Xi who is a great scholar wrote extensive commentaries for the ”Four Books,” and later they were widely accepted as the standard commentaries. As a result, the Mengzi is classified into one of the Confucian Classics. The influence of the Four Books upon the Confucianism is so large that they served as the basis of the civil service examinations in Ming and Qing Dynasties. On the other hand, due to the great contributions of the Cheng-Zhu school, Neo-Confucianism was intensively studies by scholars, and became one of the most important philosophies at that time. However, during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Confucian scholars reconsidered essence of the Confucianism and thought people who study the Confucianism should emphasized on the Confucius and Mencius philosophies instead of the Neo-Confucianism. Therefore critiques on the Neo-Confucianism began to increase, and one of the most significant exponents is Dai Zhen.Dai Zhen who was born in Qing Dynasty severely criticized the Cheng-Zhu school of the Neo-Confucianism. He was insistent on the conventional Confucianism, and wanted to liberate Mencius philosophy which was tortured by politics over the past hundreds of years. The objective of this article is to understand why Dai Zhen rewrote the commentaries of the Mengzi by the following steps. Let us start from backgrounds of the academic activities of Mencius philosophy during Ming and Qing Dynasties followed by realizing the methodologies Dai Zhen used to interpret Mencius philosophy. Then we reconsidered whether the commentaries by Dai Zhen are consistent with Mengzi itself, or new understandings of it. Finally, the new path to Mencius philosophy created by Dai Zhen will be highlighted.
