《商君书》的“重治”:一个本土传统的德法共治概念

“Co-governance” in The Book of Lord Shang: A Traditional Chinese Concept of Co-governance of Virtue and Law

“坚持依法治国和以德治国相结合”是新时代党和国家确定的治国方略。《商君书》的“重治”是一个中国传统的德法共治概念。商鞅之所以能够提出德法共治这样的理论构想,缘于其本身就是个杂家,其知识结构包含了儒法两个方面的内容。但秦国的政治现实、君本主义立场、对法律的过于迷信、二元对立思想等使商鞅放弃了“重治”,在秦国开创了一任法重刑、摒弃德政的治理传统。汉初中国的精英们,认为任法而治不施仁义是秦二世而亡的根源,在儒法合流的背景下董仲舒提出了新的德主刑辅说。德主刑辅、礼刑融合,使中国自汉以来开启了一个礼乐刑政综合治理的新时代。董仲舒的“新德主刑辅说”及其主导下历代阳儒阴法的治道实践,实际正是商鞅重治思想的有限历史呈现。德法共治是中国历史自然演进的必然结果,也是对中国历代治道成败得失的科学总结,重申《商君书》的“重治”概念,能增进我们在新时期“坚持依法治国和以德治国相结合”治国方略的文化自觉。

“Adherence to the combination of rule of law and rule of virtue” is the governance strategy of the Party and the Central Government in the new era. The “co-governance” in The Book of Lord Shang reveals a traditional Chinese concept of co-governance of virtue and law. The reason why Shang Yang was able to put forward the theory of co-governance of virtue and law was that he was a scholar with miscellaneous knowledge and his knowledge structure included the two aspects of Confucianism and Legalism. However, the political reality of the Qin dynasty, the orientation of monarchism, the excessive worship of law, and the thought of dualistic opposition combined to make Shang Yang give up such co-governance, and created a governance tradition of giving heavy punishment by law and abandoning the politics of virtue. At the beginning of the Han dynasty, the Chinese elites believed that it was the root cause of the death of the Second Emperor of the Qin dynasty that the law was administered without benevolence and justice. Dong Zhongshu put forward the new doctrine of morality as the core and criminal punishment as the supplement against the background of the confluence of Confucianism and Legalism. The integration of virtue, rites and punishments opened a new era of the integrated governance of rites and punishments since the Han dynasty. Dong Zhongshu’s governance practice with this theory was actually the limited historical presentation of Shang Yang’s thought of co-governance. The co-governance of virtue and law is the inevitable result of the natural evolution in Chinese history, as well as a scientific summary of the success and failure of the governance by the imperial dynasties of China. Reinterpreting the concept of “co-governance” in The Book of Lord Shang can enhance our cultural consciousness of “adherence to the combination of rule of law and rule of virtue” in the new period.