论先秦法家的价值体系

The Legalist Value System in the Spring and Autumn Period

法家的政治理论,包括法、术、势三大方面。商鞅重"法",申不害重"术",慎到重"势",韩非作了批判总结,提出了君、势、法、术相结合的系统理论。势,指君主的权势、权力;法,指由君主统一公布施行的法律、法令;术,指君主的统治术。三者虽有各自相对独立的价值,但"皆帝王之具也",都是君主权力的表现,也是维护君主权力的工具。在法家的价值体系中,"君主"是"神圣"的化身,"权势"是"胜众"的资本,"法制"是治世的法宝,"术数"是御臣的工具。君主处于最高的价值层次,居于主体地位,而作为"帝王之具"的势、法、术则属于较低的价值层次。或者说,君主是"目的性"价值,势、法、术是"工具性"价值。法家价值体系的逻辑结构为:君←势(权)←法←术。

As one of the most important sects in the Spring and Autumn Period, the Legalists advocated a series of the- ories consisted of three significant principles such as law, statecraft and power. Shang Yang stressed law, while Shen Buhai valued statecraft and Shen Dao emphasized power. However, Han Feizi combined critically the three and formed the system of Legalism including the monarch, law, statecraft and power. ＂Law＂ here implies strict and uniform enforcement of estab- lished laws through heavy punishment and generous rewards. ＂Statecraft＂ means the skill or technique and wisdom of the ruler in managing public affairs. ＂Power＂ refers to the highest position and authority of the ruler to issue order and to make others obey. The three are ＂all means of the monarch＂ which represent and defend the sovereign power, although they have respective and particular value. Therefore, in the value system of Legalism, the ＂monarch＂ is the incarnation of ＂sacred- ness＂ and ＂power＂ means position and authority to overcome the people, as well as ＂law＂ refers to a magic key to govern the society and ＂statecraft＂ implies means to rule officials, occupies a dominant position which sits on the highest value level, nevertheless, law, statecraft and power which act as ＂means of the monarch＂ lie on lower levels. In other words, The monarch is the value with purposiveness, but law, statecraft and power are values with instrumentality. In this way, the logical structure of the Legalist value system is as follow, the monarch ^-- power ^-- law ^-- statecraft.