论荀子的社会正义理论

Xunzi's Theory of Social Justice

社会正义是人类永恒的追求,人类总是想建构"善的制度",即最为理想的社会秩序。自罗尔斯出版了《正义论》之后,人们开始热烈地讨论西方的正义理论。其实,我们中国的思想家也以不同的方式探讨着正义,在中国最早提出正义概念的是荀子。荀子从阐述人之性恶开始,指出人之性恶导致了人与人之间利益冲突的存在,利益冲突导致了社会混乱,所以需要礼义规范,而礼义规范需要以正义为指导原则。荀子还阐述了正义原则、正义制度,并追问政治合法性的基础。荀子强调了人的社会性,但没有重视人的内在主体性,这是荀子社会正义理论的缺失。

Social justice is man＇s eternal pursuit of human,for man always wants to construct a＂good＂system,an ideal social order.Since John Rawls published A Theory of Justice,there has been a heated discussion of western justice theory.Yet the Chinese thinkers also had their own ideas of justice and the first person who put forward the concept of justice is Xunzi,who believed in the evilness of human nature,which in turn led to conflicts of interest between man and man and eventually to social chaos.So there is a need for norms of etiquette,but on the other hand etiquette norms need to take justice as the guiding principle.Xunzi also discussed the principles of justice and the justice system,and explored the political legitimacy foundation.He emphasized the social nature of man,but failed to see man＇s subjectivity,which is the shortcoming of his theory.