作　者：王浦劬 赵滕
关键词：先秦法家；功利思想；君主利益取向；公共利益取向；法；术；势
摘　要：

传统中国以术驭法而非以法抑术的政治实践，凸显了法家思想法与术之间的矛盾关系。那么，为何术能够替代法成为法家思想的主要实践形式？为何法的治理主张和精神未获承继，而势最终变成了君主专制之势而并非法治之势？实际上，先秦法家思想存在公共利益与君主利益两种不同取向，从而形成了结构性矛盾，厘清这两种取向及其结构性矛盾发展的脉络，进而解构其法、术、势的阐述，不失为解答这些问题的路径。一般来说，公共利益取向的法家强调道的客观确定性，认为应以规范促进共同利益，主张公共利益优先，强调君臣共治、法治为主，因此，势即法之势。而君主利益取向的法家则利用道的主观玄虚性，基于利益冲突不可避免的逻辑，主张君主利益优先，强调君主独裁和术治为主。这时，势就成为君主之势。申不害、商鞅、慎到等的功利思想虽然各有侧重，但在基本逻辑上体现着两种取向的结构性矛盾。作为法家集大成者，韩非竭力融合君主利益与公共利益，化解两者之间的结构性矛盾，达成了其思想在逻辑上的自洽。但是，在君主至上的传统政治实践中，韩非以道的主观玄虚性吸纳其客观确定性，实际上使得君利与公利之间的冲突更加凸显，从而使得君主利益处于优先地位。这就为法家侧重君主利益的论证与儒家主张君主专制的学说融通苟合，进而为传统中国专制政治的统治奠定了思想基础。

 

On the Structural Contradiction and Evolution Of Pre-Qin Legalists’ Utilitarian Thoughts

Wang Puqu, Zhao Teng (Peking University)

Abstract The ancient Chinese history reveals that it was the secret “Shu” (Plots) that prevailed in the political practice, maintaining a superiority over the implementation of “Fa”. This phenomenon implies the tension between “Fa” and “Shu”. Why did “Shu” take place of “Fa” as the primary legalist concept in ruling activities? Why was the spirit of “Fa” eventually abandoned with “Shi” as the companion of “Shu” instead of “Fa”? In fact, there were two opposing orientations in Pre-Qin Legalist tradition, which resulted in a structural contradiction. It will be illuminating to reconstruct the simple tips of “Fa”, “Shu”, “Shi” (Power) of the legalist thoughts to dig into the tension between two orientations: the public orientation that focused on the common interests, and the autocratic orientation focusing on the conflicts of interests, and to sum up the ontological, ethical, and political paradigms of ancient Chinese legalists’thoughts. Straightforwardly, notions of public orientation take the light of the objective regularity of “Tao”, stress the common interest relationship, which leads to the priority of public interests, and celebrate governance under “Fa”, which is made by the emperor and ministers together. In contrast, notions of the autocratic orientation argue on the basis of the subjectively chaotic nature of “Tao”, stress the inevitability of conflicts of interests, which gives support to the priority of the emperor′s interests, and embrace the tyranny of “Shu” by the emperor alone. In the theories of SHEN Buhai, SHEN Dao, and SHANG Yang, we can easily trace signs of the contradiction, although they respectively find their main stance on one side. Finally, the synthesizer HAN Fei tried to combine and balance the two opposing directions in his work. Obviously, in political practice, the consequence that autocratic orientation outflanks the public orientation proves inevitable, leading to the priority of the emperor′s interests. And allied with the orthodox thoughts of Confucianism, “Shu” became one main weapon in the ancient ruling arsenal of dictatorship.

Key words   Pre-Qin Legalists; utilitarian thoughts; common interests; emperor′s interests; Fa; Shu; Shi

 

■收稿日期 2020-09-01

■作者简介 王浦劬，政治学博士，北京大学政府管理学院教授、博士生导师，北京大学国家治理研究院研究员、院长；北京 100193；赵 滕，政治学博士，北京大学国家治理研究院助理研究员。

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