西方社会公正观念史中的“应得”问题及其理论启示

“Merit”in the History of Western Notions of Justice and Its Theoretical Enlightenment

西方社会公正观念史的语境中,分配正义有一条清晰的思想行进路径,即“应得”:人之为人,各安其位、各尽其职、各取其份、各得其所。具体而言,古希腊哲人的“德性”、中世纪神学的“秩序”、近代思想家的“权利”、现代思想家的“功利”和当代思想家的“自由”无不体现出各具时代特征的“应得”向度。不可忽视,由古代德性主义、中世纪神权主义、近代权利主义、现代功利主义以及当代新自由主义构成的五大公正原则,对当下社会的公平正义构建具有一定意义的理论镜鉴,诸如主体意识的激活、道德修为的提升、个性自由的尊重、生命伦理的关怀,等等。但是,无论其中的美德、理性、权利,抑或其中的意志、自由、和谐,都不是现实的公正而是抽象的公正;不是革命性的公正而是保守性的公正;不是实质上的公正而是形式上的公正;不是属于劳动人民的公正而是属于一部分阶级、一部分群体的公正。对之,我们需在实践中加以辩证分析。

In the context of the history of western notions of justice,distributive justice has a clear ideological path,namely“merit”:human is called human mainly because each person assumes his or her position,discharges his or her duties,acquires his or her own share and has his or her place.Concretely speaking,the“virtue”of ancient Greek philosophers,the“order”of medieval theology,the“right”of thinkers in modern times,the“utility”of thinkers in contemporary age and the“freedom”of contemporary thinkers embody the“merit”dimensions with different characteristics of the times all without exception.It can not be neglected that the major five principles of fairness constituted by ancient moral integrity doctrine,medieval theocraticism,authoritarianism in modern times,utilitarianism in contemporary age as well as Neoliberalism in an epoch have a theoretical reference of certain significance for the construction of equality and justice in the current society,such as the activation of subject consciousness,the promotion of ethical cultivation,the respect of individual freedom and the concern of life ethics.However,whether the virtue,the reason,the right in them or the will,the freedom,the harmony in them are not the realistic justice but the abstract justice;not the revolutionary justice but the conservative justice;not the substantial justice but the formal justice;not the justice which belongs to the working people but the justice which belongs to a portion of class and a portion of populations.Hereto,we need to make a dialectic analysis of them during practice.