近年來，有關於「儒學本質」的研究課題，在學界引起相當多的討論，不過，如果我們將此一問題意識，回置於中國思想史的脈絡來看，我們將可以發現，此一問題的探討，並非始自今日才成為儒學研究的重要課題。是故，對於「儒學本質是什麼？」的提問，仍然是研究者所無法避免的重要課題。因此，本文乃嘗試從孔門弟子的學思活動切入，分析儒學本質在先秦以來的可能變化情形，我認為這樣的切入方式，或許也可提供一條不同以往的思考途徑，為「儒學本質」的討論開出可能的討論方向。首先本文將以「出土文獻」中的「子貢」形象為出發點，比對其與《論語》中的子貢形象之落差，從而形構出一個可能不同風貌的「子貢」；其次，我將進一步分析此一落差所反映的可能意義；最後，則將以上討論的結果置於儒學的發展脈絡中觀察，希望可以指出「儒學本質」的可能方向。

Recently research into the nature of Confucianism has attracted much attention. However, when closely examining the existing literature on History of Chinese Thoughts, we can find that this area of Confucianism deserves scholars’ full attention. The purpose of the present study aims to analyze the possible change of this nature after the pre-Chin Dynasty through a pioneering discussion of the xuesi (學思) activities of the Confucius disciples. It is believed that this way some light could be shed on our study on the nature of Confucianism. The paper will first explore the image of Zigong (子貢) based on unearthed texts, and compare it with that in The Analects of Confucius. A new image different from the past will thus be presented. After that, the researcher will discuss what this new image means in the study of Confucianism. It is hoped that a new line of research could be found.