《潜夫论》与中古社会批判传统

"The Statement of a Hermit" and the Tradition of Criticizing Medieval Society

汉代作为中古社会确立的时期,进一步形成了造就民间士人思想家的社会基础。王符的交游和学术生涯,较典型地反映了汉代布衣思想者的治学、阅世和著述特点。他从事社会批判的基本心态,一是对布衣身份的自我体认;二是虽居社会底层而不能忘情政治的救世、淑世心态;三是对潜夫横议之合法性的自信。布衣王符对社会问题的认知,具有直接性和亲历性,其批判言论犀利,锋芒毕露,"人民性"的特征鲜明,超越了庙堂思想家的力度和深度,其思想甚至已超迈中古而具有了某种近代的民权意义。透过历代文献记载和思想史遗产的梳理,可以清晰地呈现出中古史上这种边缘性的文化小传统脉络。

The Han Dynasty, as the establishment of medieval society, formed the social base of the civilian scholar thinkers. The friends and the academic career of Wang Fu typically reflected how the civilian thinkers did their work, and dealt with the world and writing characteristics during the Han Dynasty. His thoughts surpassed the medieval time and had a sense of the mod-em civil rights. Through the literatures and documents in the past and the intellectual history heritage, we can easily find out the context of traditional borderline culture.