当下中国新儒家之宪政诉求及其省思

The Reflection on the Appeal of New Confucian Constitutionalism in Current China

当下中国的儒家宪政论有刚性和柔性之分。儒家与宪政是否能够实质性勾连,需要先对何为现代宪政这一前提性概念进行澄清,才能论及儒家与宪政间的关系问题。儒家宪政论者忽视了宪政本身的复杂性。另外,还需要对不同论者的儒家精神之内核的争辩进行剖析。在此基础上,可以看出,不同论者争辩背后的更深层问题是彼此所选的参照物不同,并导致判断尺度不同,进而引出普世性价值是否存在的一般性问题。儒家与现代宪政之间的可能性距离,取决于是否能从儒家精神内核中开掘出现代宪政的最基本的价值与制度性构建等方面的元素。

Nowadays,China 's Confucian Constitutionalism is classified into rigid and flexible schools. However,whether there essentially exists relevant relation between Confucianism and constitutionalism,the concept modern constitutionalism should be firstly clarified. Scholars in favor of Confucian Constitutionalism neglect the complication of constitutionalism. Besides,the spiritual core of Confucianism also needs further interpretation.Based on all these analyses,a conclusion can be drawn that the disagreement on the Confucian spirit results from different criteria adopted by different schools,which further leads to the general question of whether there exist general values throughout the world. The possible distance between Confucian and modern constitutionalism depends on whether the basic elements of modern constitution and its institutional construction can be found from the spiritual core of Confucianism.