女道、妇道、母道 ：明儒罗汝芳的女性观 = Female dao learning, female virtues, motherhood : a study of Ming Neo-Confucian philosopher Luo Rufang’s conception of women

“中国古代妇女”一直都是学术界的热门讨论课题之一。在讨论这个课题时，学者一般以朝代或阶段区分不同时代的女性特征与发展。宋代以后，尤其是明代，明代统治者将理学捧为“官学”，而占据垄断地位的理学在各层面影响了明代妇女。理学即成为讨论妇女问题的重要因素之一，有时甚至作为妇女问题的背景或问题的轴心。一般认为理学的发展在很大程度上影响了妇女的发展，而这些论述与评价往往都是负面的。理学，不可否认对于明人有着重大影响，但是否那么成功地限制妇女的发展？在政治上，明代虽有“后宫不得干政”的明文规定，却不乏后妃参政之事迹。法律上，较之前几代，明代妇女在婚姻与女犯宽宥上拥有更多权力。教育方面，过分强调、提倡“贞节“观念，物极必反，晚明一度出现“失节”的吊诡现象。明代的“守节”现象是理学的提倡，还是政策的鼓吹？在理学盛行的氛围中，理学家必然扮演了重要的角色。明代理学家是否似人们刻板印象中“贞节牌坊”的追捧者、“节烈行为”的鼓吹者？或更进一步地指控明代理学是造成妇女桎梏与枷锁的罪魁祸首？本文将主要以明代理学家罗汝芳所书之书信、墓志铭、悼文等探讨其女性观。罗汝芳是阳明后学的集大成者，亦是泰州学派的重要人物之一，其虽不能完全代表所有理学家发声，但却能让我们了解明代理学家对于时下女性的一些想法、问题思考，所以其女性观是具代表性的。本文希望通过探讨罗汝芳的女性观以更接近与了解明代理学家对妇女以及一些妇女现象的看法与思考。Women in ancient china have always been one of the most popular topics in the academic field. Scholars always differentiate women according to historical period or dynasties when discussing them. After Song dynasty, Ming‘s rulers promote Neo-Confucianism as the official education in the country. The educational monopoly position of the Neo-Confucianism impacted the life of Ming Women in every aspect. We cannot rule Neo-Confucianism out when we are on the topic of Ming Women. It is generally believe that the development of Neo-Confucianism had great impaction on the development of women, and most of the evaluations are negative. It’s undeniable that Neo-Confucianism had impaction on Ming women life, but the question is, did it restrict the development of women? Politically, the imperial court stipulated that women do not have the rights to interfere with court affair, but there are records shows otherwise. Legally, women had more rights in marriage and crimes. Educationally, the court advocated chastity in women, but there is a paradoxical phenomenon of disloyally in late Ming. Is the phenomenon of preserving chastity due to Neo-Confucianism or the policies of the court? Neo-Confucian played an important role, under the prevalent of Neo-Confucianism. Are all the Neo-Confucians the promoter of chastity behaviour and chastity memorial arch? Can we conclude that Neo-Confucianism is the cause of women shackles? This paper is going to use the works of Ming Neo-Confucian Philosopher Luo Rufang to examine his conception on women. Luo Rufang is the synthesizer of Yangming’s thought and an important figure in Taizhou School. Though Luo Rufang may not be the voice of all the Ming Neo-Confucians, but we could grasp the thought of other Neo-Confucians’ conception of women though his works. I hope to understand and comprehend the thoughts of Ming Neo-Confucian views on women and the phenomenon of women though Luo Rufang’s works in this paper.Bachelor of Art