| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立中山大學 === 中國文學系研究所 === 102 === This study starts with the conventional theory of Confucian human nature and then applies the academic trends of respecting a person’s natural temperaments in thelate Ming Dynasty as the basis of the arguments of the historical context. The study aims to explore human nature with Feng Meng Long''s San-Yen.
The first chapter explains the motivation and the aim of this study from the perspective of the historical context, function of the literary works and the author. The theme is the connection of the theory of Confucian human nature and Kant''s theory of human nature illustrated with literature review. In the second chapter, the author discusses the essence of Confucian human nature from the lowest degree of moral status to the highest, that is, transforming the most primitive human nature to the moral discipline based on Gaozi, XunZi, and Zhu Xi''s theories, exercising self-discipline with self-awareness based on Confucius, Menicus and Lu-Wang’s temperament theories, and overcoming the most innate human nature, approving Confucianism''s moral practice while at the same time illustrating selfishness is the human nature according to Li Zhi’s theory in late Ming Dynasty. The third chapter proceeds to the text of San-Yen. The author discusses the characters'' nature in San-Yen from their insatiable desire, temperaments and moral practice according to Mou Zhongsan''s Neo-Confucian theory. The forth chapter divides the plot into the process of the making of the human nature, encouraging virtue and punishing evil, and sense of belonging to reveal the character’s temperaments and its connotation following plot development. The fifth chapter provides Feng Meng Long''s writing concept from his own writings and other relevant works he compiled. The author emphasizes the importance of educating people to adhere to morality from readers'' interpretation in order to reach the standard of Confucian morality and thus curb the majority''s moral weakness. The final chapter employs good and evil as a standard of value to criticize the characters'' morality in San-Yen, and concludes that humans are born good, that humans are born evil, and that human are born neither good nor evil. Last but not least, the views on human nature of the characters in San-Yen are partially matched with and partially detached from the Confucian theory of human nature under the influence of Ming Dynasty''s trend of thought.
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