思想国度中的现实智慧——韩非与马基雅维里政治道德观的异同

Practical Wisdom in the Realm of Thoughts——Similarities and Differences between Han Fei's and Machiavelli's Political Ethics

韩非和马基雅维里虽置身不同的时代和文化背景,但他们都用功利的观点解释社会政治生活。在他们的政治哲学中,政治的目的不是道德的良善,而是统治者卓有成效的统治,君主是否具有作恶的艺术比品德的优劣更为重要。然而他们在对道德和法律的理解上也存在差异,这使其在政治思想史上占据着不同的位置。

Han Fei and Machiavelli, two great thinkers born in entirely different times and cultural backgrounds, share their thinking in that they both employ utilitarianism to explain social and political life. In their political philosophy, they both agree that politics is not for moral goodness, but the effective ruling of a monarch. Thus the art of evil counts more than morality for a monarch. Similar as they are, they have different understandings about morality and law, which assign them different niches in the history of political thought.