“尚同”与“尚贤”:墨子政治和合的伦理路径探析

Shangtongand Shangxian:Mozi's ethical exploration of a political harmony

传统中国社会的政治分合具有特定的善恶取向,其合理性取决于价值主体的指向性,即政治为了何种主体、满足何种欲望。殷商以来特有的历史情境造就了民本主义的政治情感,至战国时期,养民、惠民已经成为急切的政治需要。墨子关爱民生,以一种显别于儒家"仁政"的"义政"来推行、倡导"兼爱"以利天下的秩序安顿,在政治路径的选择方面主张"尚同"以实现"一同天下之义",并通过"尚贤"缓和"人异其义"的伦理困境,以"君无常贵"、"贤无常贵"的贤德建设和合治德冲突,突显其异于时代的政治智慧,对当下的民主政治改革有重要启示意义。

The political unity and division in the Chinese history were determined by the different values of rulers,i.e.,whom politics was to work for and whose demands politics was to satisfy.The specific historical situation since the Yin Dynasty gave rise to the argumentation of putting people first.And in the Warring States Period,securing people's livelihood became an urgent demand of the rulers.Different from Confucianism,Mozi supported a state led by a virtuous,benevolent sovereign to secure people's livelihood and proposed impartial concern for all to achieve a unified ethical and political order.As for the main technique adopted for this task,Mozi proposed Shangtong(literally meaning harmonizing values)to unify the conception of moral standards and Shangxian(literally meaning elevating the worthy)to put an end to the phenomenon that'morality varies from people to people'.And Mozi was quoted saying that the Son of Heaven and the superiors could err.All this provides nourishment for the current democratic and political reform in China.