“王”与“霸”——早期儒家与古希腊政制观之比较

Moral Kingship and Lords-Protector --A Comparison of Early Confucian and Ancient Greek Views on Political Institutions

无论是早期儒家还是古希腊的哲人,对于理想政制的设计一直是他们哲学乃至政治学思想的核心内容。基于道德中心主义,二者都对理想政制的设计寄予了他们的道德伦理思想。对于早期儒家而言,这种理想的政制就是“王道”;而对于古希腊的哲人来说,这种理想的政制就是“哲学王”。无论是“王道”还是“哲学王”,他们都是在充满道德悲悯情怀的哲人那里所寄托的政治实践理想。然而,现实的政治和社会形势使得这些充满理想的哲人不得不考虑这种政治理想如何在现实的层面上实现。这样,“王道”或许要通过“霸政”才有可能得以实现,而“哲学王”如果在现实中难以实现,也必须要通过强调法治的制度才能实现稳定和谐的城邦。

Whether for the early Confucians or ancient Greek philosophers,an ideal political institution is always the core of their philosophies and political thoughts.Based on the moral centralism,both sides endowed the ideal political institutions with their moral and ethical view.For the early Confucians,such ideal institution is moral kingship,while for the ancient Greek philosophers,such ideal institution is aristocracy.Whether the moral kingship or aristocracy,they are the political ideals for the philosophers with moral compassion.However,the realistic political and social circumstances urged the philosophers to consider how to put such political ideals into practice.Thus,the moral kingship might be attained by the approach of lord-protector,and if the aristocracy is hard to be attained in the reality,we must strengthen the laws to achieve a stable and harmonious state.