韩非子与现代性——一个纲要性的论述

Han Fei Zi and Modernity: An Outline

迄今为止,对先秦哲学最正面的评价是将其与古希腊哲学做比较,并称其为轴心时代的哲学。实际上,中国古典思想不但是政治哲学之一种,而且由于中国的春秋战国时代与西方向现代化转变的时期更具有可比性,所以先秦思想家所处理的是某种意义上的现代性问题。在这些"现代政治哲学家"中,韩非子最好且最明确地展示了他对这种时代变动的理解。他对古今之别的论述,依然可以为现当代的道德保守主义与虚无主义之争以及其他现代性问题提供洞见。通过对他思想的批判性考察,也可能加深我们对现代性本质的理解,有助于对自由主义、多元主义进行更深刻的评价。

The most positive evaluation of the classical （pre-Qin） Chinese philosophy so far is to compare it with classical （Greek） philosophy, taking both as thoughts of the ＂axial age＂. However, not only is the ＂classical＂ Chinese thought a form of political philosophy, but the times when the classical Chinese philosophers lived in were more comparable with those of Western modernization, meaning that the problems they were dealing with were problems of modernity. Among these ＂modern political philosophers＂, Han Fei Zi most ably demonstrated his explicit awareness of the nature of political and social changes of his times through his writings. His discussion of the distinctions between the ＂ancients＂ and the ＂moderns＂ can still shed light on the debates between moral conservatism and moral nihilism as well other issues of modernity. Furthermore, to evaluate his thoughts critically can also help us to deepen our understanding of modernity and to criticize some ideas of liberalism and pluralism.