作为传统国宪基本理念的“天下为公,立君为民”——兼及“公天下”与“家天下”之辨

“Tian Xia Wei Gong,Li Jun Wei Min”as a Basic Concept of the Traditional Constitution of China——Also on the Debate about“Gong Tian Xia”and“Jia Tian Xia”

宪法实为政治共同体"安身立命"的根本依据,华夏文化政治共同体"安身立命"的根本依据就是传统中国的国宪。传统国宪的一项基本理念就是"天下为公,立君为民",这一理念是华夏贤哲对政治共同体的起源与目的、共同体治理者及其治理权的来源与宗旨这一重大问题的回答,堪称传统中国的国制灵魂与精神宪法。这一理念所体现的"公天下"主张与夏禹传子开创的"家天下"体制之间并非尖锐对立,而是辩证统一的。"公天下"是理想的治理理念,"家天下"是现实的统治思维,"公天下"的理想涵盖了"家天下"的现实,并对其进行论证、解释,或者批判、校正,使传统政治实践不致过分偏离华夏治道。

Constitution is actually the fundamental rules to “An Shen Li Ming”for a political com-munity.The fundamental rules to “An Shen Li Ming”for ancient China was the traditional Chinese constitution whose basic concept was “Tian Xia Wei Gong,Li Jun Wei Min”as an answer to the very important question that what was the origin and purpose of a political community and its governance. It could be seen as the soul of state institution and the spirit constitution of ancient China.The “Gong Tian Xia”claim from this concept was not really sharply opposed to the “Jia Tian Xia”system.They were dialectical unification.The former was an ideal governance concept while the latter was a realistic ruling thinking.The ideal of “Gong Tian Xia”covered the reality of “Jia Tian Xia”,and the former carried on to demonstrating and explaining,or criticizing and correcting the latter,in order to keep the traditional political practice being good governance.