The Origin of Skepticism in Ancient Confucian Classics

Ancient skeptics also involved a lot in Confucian classics, mainly in the following aspects:

First, the relationship between Confucius and the Six Classics. It is considered that the Six Classics are several irrelevant books in the Zhou Dynasty. They are neither "The Six Classics are Zhou Shu's old classics" as China classical scholars said, nor "The Six Classics are Confucius' works" as China modern classical scholars said. Confucius did not edit or produce the Six Classics, and their combination was at the end of the Warring States Period (see the first book of ancient history).

Second, about ancient and modern literature. In Distinguishing Ancient History, the papers of Qian, Qian Mu, Wang and others were published one after another, and a heated discussion was held on this. The most important thing is Qian's re-discussion of classical, modern and ancient literature. (See "Discrimination of Ancient History" Volume 5)

Third, professional classic research:

In the Book of Changes, Gu Jiegang's book A Comparative Study of the Book of Changes and Xiang Zhuan, Li's Yi Zhuci and A Textual Research on the Book of Changes, Yu's Yi Gua, Yi Ci's time and author, Rong Zhaozu's Origins of Divination are quite good. In Shangshu, this paper discusses the time and authenticity of Yao Dian, Gong Yu, Pan Geng and Jin Teng in Jinwen Shangshu.

As for The Book of Songs, the third volume of The Study of Ancient History focuses on the issues of The Book of Songs and Preface to Mao's Poems, and has published articles by scholars such as Hu Shi, Qian, Gu Jiegang, Liu Dabai, Zheng Zhenduo, Zhou Zuoren, Yu Pingbo, Zhu Ziqing, Wei, and expressed their opinions. The main purpose is to deny the so-called "legacy" of the so-called sage, and think that it is just a folk song; He also denied that Confucius deleted poems and thought that poems had nothing to do with Confucius. In the Spring and Autumn Annals, the nature of Spring and Autumn Annals, the relationship between Confucius and Spring and Autumn Annals, and the textual research on Zuo Zhuan are mainly discussed.

In other aspects, there are discussions about the authenticity, differences and authors of the ancient Chinese poem Xiao Jing; Textual research on The Analects of Confucius; There are discussions about the times of "Great Learning" and "The Doctrine of the Mean", and so on.

The ancient skepticism school has played a positive role in breaking the long-standing traditional concept of "believing only in the ancient" and taking classics as historical documents for realistic scientific research. Many research achievements of the ancient skepticism school are still valuable academic documents for studying the ancient history of China and Confucian classics. Of course, it is undeniable that there are some arbitrary and one-sided things in the study of ancient schools.