本文探討《禮記》政治思想之形上原理，及其開展之架構。藉〈哀公問〉、〈仲尼燕居〉、〈孔子閒居〉三文作為立論依據，並以《禮記》全書及其他儒學經典為輔，說明「禮」在政治層面上運用之意義及具體功用。 文分六節，一是前言，說明此三文在《禮記》全書中之思想定位，及本文之研究目的、方法及步驟。其二，探索〈哀公問〉之思想內涵，禮作為人民生活之重要憑藉，須落實於五倫關係及喪祭典禮；並說明愛敬之道德情感，及重視大昏，是政治所以完善的根本。其三，從〈孔子閒居〉說明當政者須有作為民之父母的體認及胸襟，其關鍵在於能通達禮樂之原的道德心性，達到「致中和，天地位焉，萬物育焉」的境界，若能掌握禮樂之實質，則不必拘執於外在形式。其四，從〈仲尼燕居〉說明禮是照應生活實事，周詳該徧地予以安頓，闡明其即事顯理，斟酌眾情之特性。其五，綜說三文政治思想之特質，並與《禮記》其他篇章互證。其六，總結前文意旨，說明此三文呈顯一套完整政治思想，有其形上原理及開展過程，在《禮記》全書中佔重要地位，具有深刻意義及價值。 ‘Li-Ji’ is one of the greatest canons in Confucianism because it concluded the thoughts from Confucius to early Han Dynasty. As one of the ‘Three Li-books’ , it was the one which interpreted the main ideals of Confucius, while the other two Li-books ‘Yi-Li’ and ‘Chou-Li’ described the formal rites and the political systems. There are 49 chapters in ‘Li-Ji」, and this essay explores five of them of the ontological principles in ‘Li-Ji’ . They are “Zhong Yong”,“Li-Yun”, “I-Gong Wen”, “Zhong-Ni Yan Ju”, “Kong-Zi Xian Ju”. These five chapters also shows the implements of the ontological principles in ‘Li-Ji’ .
