“天下为公”与“共和主义”的暗合与分殊

The Coincidences and Differences between “The Whole World as One Community”and“Republicanism”

"天下为公"理论是古代中国颇具影响力的重要政治理论,不仅是儒家政治哲学中德化君主的重要资源,也为数千年来士人阶层无畏的政治批判提供了有力的武器。"天下为公"在价值追求等方面与西方"共和主义"思想上存在某些相通之处,清末民初革命党人以及近现代学者都用其来解释西方民主共和思想。但共和主义是西方宪政理论和宪政文明的重要组成部分,内在于基督教信仰的文明基础之上,简单地移植和笨拙地嫁接并不符合复杂的社会现实。从当下的社会环境来看,国家政治制度建设当中,民主宪政是必须的,华族传统也是必要的,因此,必须对"天下为公"思想进行创造性转化。

The idea of ＂the whole world as one community＂ is an influential political theory in ancient China. It is not only the important resource of political philosophy of limiting monarchs, also provides a powerful weapon of fearless political criticism of the scholars for thousands of years. There are some similarities in the field of value pursuit between ＂the whole world as one community＂ and ＂republicanism＂, so in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, the revolutionary party and modern scholars used it to explain the western democratic republic theories. But republicanism is an important part of western constitutional theory and civilization which is derived from Christian faith. So simple transplantation and awkward grafting do not conform to the complex social reality of China. From the current social environment, in the construction of the national political system, democratic constitutional government and Chinese traditional culture are both necessary. Therefore, we must creatively transfer ＂ the whole world as one community＂ ideas to the reality.