无情有义:韩非子与柏拉图正义思想之异同

Inexorable but Justicial:A comparison between Han Feizi and Plato's thoughts on justice

韩非子的思想历来被认为是“刻薄寡恩”的,他将亲人之间的关系认定为利害关系,对竞争中的失败者态度冷漠,更重要的是他强调在国家治理的过程中相关人员不能因为个人感情而枉法曲断。韩非子的无情,正是因为他深刻地意识到了人之私利、私情对公领域的有害干扰,试图将之彻底逐出公领域。柏拉图在他的理想城邦中废除家庭制度和私有财产,提倡卫士等级共有妻子儿女和财产,这是对亲情、爱情和友情的彻底否定。与韩非子相同,柏拉图的无情也是为了排除个人私利和感情对社会正义的破坏。为了在政治混乱、正义缺失的时代重建正义,他们强调社会和国家公利高于个人私利。因此,必须加强国家对个人的控制,不同程度地将个人工具化。不同的是,韩非子秉持“世异则事异”的历史观,因此有可能在国家大治之后,改变个人与国家的关系,使个人成为目的而国家成为工具。柏拉图则基于“两个世界”的划分和理念论,认为理想城邦不应有任何变化,这样个人与国家的关系也就无从改变。韩非子与柏拉图思想的相似性说明,无论中西,心智结构相同的人们会基于相同的人性,对相似的时代问题给出大致相同的解决方案;而他们思想的差异性则展现出古代中国思想与古希腊哲学的根本性差异。

The thought of Han Feizi is constantly assumed as“harsh and ungrateful”:he identified the relationship of kinsfolk as a matter of interest,treated the losers unconcernedly,and stressed more that people who governed should not be interfered by their private sentiment.The inexorableness of Han Feizi was because he had been aware of the harmful influence of people's private sentiment and interests,so he tried to expel them from the public domain completely.Plato had not only abolished the institution of family and private property but also advocated the communion of women,children and property among the defenders,which could be seen as the completely deny of the family bond,love and friendship.In consensus with Han Feizi's,Plato's inexorableness was to get rid of the damage of private sentiment and interests to social justice.In order to reconstruct justice in a disordered and unjust era,they both emphasized that the public interest was superior to the private interest.Therefore,individuals might be firmly controlled by the state,which inevitably ted to the instrumentalization of individuals.Their thoughts also had some differences,as Han Feizi believed that“the institutions should change along with the times”,so the relation of state and individual could probably change when the state was in perfect conditions,in which the individual was taken as an aim while the state as a tool.Based on the partition of“two worlds”and Idea Theory,Plato considered that the ideal polis should not change,so the relation of state and individual would not change,either.The similarity of their thoughts indicated that,either in China or in the West,people who shared the same mind would give alike solutions to the alike problems of times based on the same human nature,while their differences exhibited the fundamental diversity between ancient China ideology and ancient Greek philosophy.