论孟子“义利之辨”展开的基础及其政治走向

On the Foundation and Political Trend of Mencius’ Debate between Righteousness and Profit

孟子"义利之辨"的展开有赖于两大基础,一个是现实基础,另一个是理论基础。现实基础是,战国时期诸侯国之间进行大规模的兼并战争,各国的统治者都想快速扩张自己的经济实力和军事实力;理论基础是儒家的"心性论"和"天人论"。其中,孟子本人的心性论和天人论是核心理论。孟子"义利之辨"的最终政治走向是"仁政",也即"王道政治"。从义利之辨出发,孟子的王道政治侧重于"仁义"这个价值要求,忽略了根本的政治制度的设计和安排,无法对统治者做出有效的限制。正常的政治实践要求价值理性与工具理性应该达到一定程度的平衡,而不是顾此失彼。总而言之,虽然孟子的"义利之辨"可以从理论上推导出"王道政治",张扬价值理性,但是在现实的政治实践中往往会遇到诸多困难。

Mencius’ debate between righteousness and profit depends on two bases. One is reality, the other is theory. The realistic basis is that during the Warring States Period, there were a large-scale annexation wars between the kingdoms, and the rulers of all countries wanted to improve their economic and military strength rapidly. And its theoretical basis come from mental-nature theory and heaven human ideology of Confucianism, which served as the core is Mencius’ ideology. Mencius’ debate between righteousness and profit has a very important purpose, that is to achieve benevolent government. From the point of view of the debate between righteousness and profit, Mencius’ kingcraft politics focuses on the value requirement of benevolence and righteousness, ignores the design and arrangement of the fundamental political system, and fails to make effective restrictions on the rulers. General political practice requires that value rationality and instrumental rationality should be balanced to a certain extent, rather than leaning in either direction. In a word, although debate between righteousness and profit can deduce benevolent government theoretically and advocate value rationality, it always encounters many difficulties in practical political practice.