孟子“民贵君轻”说的非民主性

Non-democracy of Mencius' View of "A Plebeian Being More Important than the Monarch"

至今仍有许多人认为孟子的"民贵君轻"说属于民主思想,这种观点的错误在于混淆了民本与民主的本质,割裂了孟子思想的整体性。其实,孟子之说并没有跳出君主政治前提下有关君民关系的理论范畴,与以人民主权为核心内涵的民主思想不可同日而语。"民贵君轻"是中国传统文化语境下民本主义的经典表达,将之误读为民主思想,只会导致我们在现代民主政治的追求中迷失方向。

Mencius＇ view that a plebeian is more important than the monarch has been upheld as democratic thoughts by many of today＇s scholars. Such opinion wrongfully garbled the essence of humanistic thought and democratic thought, and dissevered the integrality of Meneius＇ thought. In fact, Mencius＇ thoughts did not break up with the theoretical prepositions about the sovereign-plebeian relationship under the monarchy. Neither could it be compared to democracy which features democratic rights as its core. The view that a plebeian being more important than the monarch is the classic expression of humanistic thought under Chinese traditional culture. If we misunderstood it as democratic thought, we could lose our direction in pursuing modern political democracy.