日本の江戸時代を代表する儒者である中井履軒の『孟子』解釈には、伝統的な儒者として考え難い場面が登場する。亜聖孟子の発言は、みな万古普遍の金言として受容するのが本来の儒者であるが、履軒はそれを批判する。また、履軒は経学の世界では限定的ながらも存在を認めなければならない鬼神の類を否定し、また『毛詩』『尚書』の内容も取捨選択するという、儒者としては一線を越えた学問に到達していた。江戸時代中期の日本では、経書を所与の信仰対象として盲信せず、その記述を自己の思想によって適宜取捨選択するという行為が生じていたことが、中井履軒から見て取れる。所与の束縛から解放され、自由の己の学問を展開する姿は、近代の微かな足音だったのである。|There are aspects of interpretation on "Mencius" by Riken Nakai, who was the representative Confucian of the Edo Era in Japan, that would be difficult to conceive as a traditional Confucian. Proper Confucians are expected to accept all remarks made by the sage of the second order, Mencius, as axioms of immutable laws. Yet Riken evaluated the chapter on "all classical writings" as the "means" of Mencius. Riken also completely rejected the idea that in the world of Confucianism the presence of evil must be acknowledged, even though in a limited sense. He was also selective with the contents of the "Book of Odes" and the "Shangshu", which set his scholarship as a Confucian apart from the rest. It is evident from Riken Nakai that in Japan of the mid Edo Era there was this practice of selecting classical writings as appropriate according to the individual ideology, rather than blindly believing everything in classical writing as given, as an object of worship. The stance of advancing their scholarship that is free, being released from the given restraints, was what turned out to be a faint sign of approaching modern era