中国古代没有代表“市民阶级”的启蒙思想

No Enlightenment Representative of the“Citizen Class”in Ancient China

中国在明清之际已产生启蒙思想的观点流传很广。启蒙思想有广狭义之分,这里所说的是狭义的启蒙思想,即代表所谓“市民阶级”的启蒙思想。中国的市民和西欧的市民有很大差异,中国古代不存在“市民阶级”,因而也不可能有代表“市民阶级”的启蒙思想和启蒙思想家。王夫之的“大贾富民,国之司命也”和黄宗羲的工商皆本论都和启蒙思想无关。明清之际的思想家普遍主张抑商和反对用银,说明他们并没有从有利于商品经济的发展考虑问题,他们仍然是地主阶级的思想家。

It is widely accepted that the Enlightenment took shape in MingQing China. A distinction, however, is made about the Enlightenment between its narrow sense and its broad sense. This author herein addresses the Enlightenment in its narrow sense, that is, the Enlightenment that represents the “citizen class”. A distinct line is drawn between citizens in China and those in western Europe. There was not a “citizen class” in ancient China, so there was neither the Enlightenment nor Enlightenment thinkers who spoke for the “citizen class”. There is not a trace of Enlightenment thought in Wang Fuzi’s suggestion that “big business is a source of life for the country” or in Huang Zongxi’s proposal that industry and commerce are both essential. There was a general sentiment among thinkers in MingQing China for restraint upon commerce and against the use of silver, which shows that they had not been divorced from the landowners’ philosophy that discouraged any concern for the development of commodity economy.