明治前期日本思想家对国与民关系的近代性阐释

Relationship between the People and State with Modern Characteristics:On the Japanese Thinkers' Interpretation during the Earlier Meiji Period

明治前期,日本思想家在吸收西方国家学说的基础上,对国家政府职能、人民与国家的关系作了深入探索和近代性阐释。他们谴责了传统的政府与人民之间的不合理关系,论证了政府与人民应有的正常关系,重新解释了人民对国家和政府的权利和义务,提出政府职能在于保护人民最大利益、协调各不同利益集团之间的关系,并对如何协调政府与人民的关系提出了非传统的近代新观念。

Based on theory of the state from the western countries, during the earlier period of Meiji reign, Japanese thinkers had explored deeply the state government functions, the relation- ship between the people and the state as well as interpretations with modern characteristics. They condemned the irrational relations between the people and the traditional governmental form, and demonstrated a deserved normal relationship between government and the people while reinterpreting the rights and obligations of the people in the context of state and government. In the meantime, new notions with non-traditional modern characteristics on how to protect the best interests of the people and on how to coordinate the relationship among different interest groups were put forward.