国家与道德:民初共和危机与新文化人伦理关切的发生

State and Morality: Political Crisis in Early Republican China and the Genesis of Ethical Concerns of New Culture Intellectuals

民国初年,知识阶层出于对政治动荡和社会失范的忧虑,普遍陷入到某种道德焦虑之中。道德成为共和国家建设的核心关切,在这种认知背后,是某种国家有机体的观念,由此梁启超等进步党背景的知识分子发展出一种“国性”论述,试图以儒家传统为资源,努力为共和国家建立道德基础;而以康有为为代表的孔教会,则寻求通过宪法,将孔教确立为国家制度层面上的国教。然而,共和国体能否与中国的道德传统有机地结合,共和国家建设是否需要以及需要何种层面上的道德支撑,在张东荪、章士钊等知识分子中间引起了广泛的争议,作为理论前提的国家有机体观念也受到了挑战。而在陈独秀、高一涵等新文化人那里,儒家道德传统成了与共和国体完全不相容且必须被抛弃和否定的对象,与此同时,建立在国民权利基础上的国家观念也取代了国家有机体理论,成为新文化人的主流认识。正是在这一论辩过程中,新文化人的“伦理觉悟”才得以自觉地发生,并发展为对包括儒家道德在内的中国传统的整体否定。从这个意义上说,新文化运动可以理解为对民国初年共和危机中围绕“国家与道德”所展开的一系列论述的创造性的回应。

Concerned about the political instability and social chaos in early Republican China,intellectuals were widely caught into moral anxiety. Among them morality was commonly recognized as a core issue for the construction of republican state. Behind this notion was the Organic Theory of the State,which was drawn on by intellectuals with background of Progressive Party,including Liang Qichao,to develop the idea of “national nature”. They made effort to base republican state on a moral foundation with Confucian tradition as its resource. Meanwhile,Confucian Society led by Kang Youwei sought to establish Confucianism as national religion via constitutional convention. However,the problems that whether republican state form could be organically integrated with Chinese moral tradition and the construction of republican state needed the support of--if any,what kind of--morality,aroused wide controversy among such intellectuals as Zhang Dongsun and Zhang Shizhao. The Organic Theory of the State as theoretical premise was also challenged. While from the viewpoint of New Culture intellectuals including Chen Duxiu and Gao Yihan,Confucian moral tradition was totally incompatible with republican state,hence had to be abandoned and rejected. As a result,the conception that state should be based on rights of citizens,taking the place of the Organic Theory of the State,got popular among New Culture intellectuals. It is precisely in this argumentative process that the “ethical awakening” of New Culture intellectuals was generated and developed into the overall denial of Confucian moral tradition. In this sense,New Culture Movement can be understood as the creative response to a variety of arguments centering around the issue of “State and Morality” in the political crisis in early Republican China.