由於文人的參與，明代戲曲蓬勃發展。但文人詩文審美品味進入戲曲領域後，卻讓原本通俗質樸的場上之曲，變成騈儷華美的案頭之作。為挽救戲曲日趨停滯僵化的藝術生命力，明代曲家從「文律」的角度及造語藝術的範疇，重新探索戲曲創作本質與體製規律。這段「文律之爭」、「本色之辨」的歷史，是文人戲曲發展臻至成熟的重要歷程，也是治戲曲史者必然要面對及梳理的內容。本文以為近代戲曲研究者為掌握明代眾多作品風格及理論主張紛然並陳的局面，乃提出「戲曲流派說」試圖予以歸納及分析。然綜觀各家「流派之說」，非但論述紛紜，導致內涵及成員莫衷一是，甚至還有模糊史實之虞；而且，歷來學者對於所謂「明代戲曲流派說」立論的根據或史實源頭皆未有追溯，亦未曾針對各家「流派說」內涵進行梳理或互相比對。因此，本文嘗試為所謂「戲曲流派說」進行源頭的追溯，從史實上推斷學者「分派」論述的根據；然後析論近代戲曲史中重要的幾家「流派」意見，並且由他們分派歸類之異同，探究「流派說」的演繹過程，以及尋繹其發展脈絡與內涵轉變等種種面向。總之，本文除了希望解構「流派說」，讓史實有更客觀的呈現之外，更期望能公允地評斷所謂「明代戲曲流派說」在學術史上應有的階段性意義與價值

Dramas flourished in the Ming Dynasty because of the involvement of literati. But the poetic aesthetic taste of literati made originally popular and plain songs luxurious. To save the artistic vitality of dramas from being increasingly rigid, dramatists of Ming Dynasty explore the nature and rules of drama creation from the perspective of temperament and language art. This period of history is a very important part of maturing of literati and dramas, also a content that should be faced and sorted in order to record the history of drama. This article holds that modern drama researchers introduced the ＂drama genre theory＂ term in order to know about the various genres and theoretical arguments. However, the ＂genres＂ are so diverse that it is very hard to define their connotations and members. They even pose the danger of fuzzing facts. Moreover, scholars have never tracked down the grounds or origins of the so-called ＂Ming Dynasty drama genres＂, to say nothing of sorting or comparing the connotations of every ＂genre＂. Therefore, this paper attempts to track down the origin of the so-called ＂drama genre theory＂, and to infer the basis for the scholars to distinguish all these genres. It also analyzes several important genres, and, through an observation on the similarities and differences of classification, it explores the deductive procedure of ＂genre theory＂, and infers its development procedure and connotation transformation. In a word, besides deconstructing the ＂genre theory＂ and presenting the history more objectively, this article hopes to judge the significance of the so-called ＂Ming Dynasty drama genre theory＂ in academic history