“不隐于亲”“重罪不可容隐”与儒家家国伦理

“Do not Shield Relatives from Punishment”“Felonies cannot be Concealed”and Confucian Family-State Ethics

许多学者根据孔子“不隐于亲”的评价,认为儒家主张只有攘羊这样的小罪可以容隐,而受贿枉法这样的重罪不可以容隐,并把后世法律中谋反等重罪不可容隐制度的渊源追溯至此。然而此观点所依据的是两个独立案件结合成的孤证,忽视了先秦儒家在解决道德两难困局时思维的复杂性。“重罪不可容隐”与“不隐于亲”在适用场域和内在精神上都有较大的差异,更可能是汉儒以君权为本位的思想与亲亲相隐原则相互协调的产物。在亲亲与尊尊难以兼得的情况下,儒家根据身份、关系的不同在家国之间反复权衡,最大限度地调和了亲情与公义,奠定了中国古代家国伦理的基本格局。

Based on Confucius’ evaluation of “do not shield relatives from punishment”, many scholars insisted that Confucians believes that only minor crimes such as the disturbance of sheep can be covered up, while serious crimes such as taking bribes and bending the law can not be shielded.They also traced the origin of the system of insurrection and other felonies in later laws back to here.However, it is based on the isolated evidence of two separate cases, which ignores the complexity of the thinking of pre-Qin Confucians in solving moral dilemmas. “Felonies cannot be concealed” and “Do not shield relatives from punishment” have great differences in the field of application and inner spirit, and it should be the product of the coordination between the thought of monarchy as the standard and the principle of hidden from relatives.Because it is difficult to get both affinity and respect, Confucian weighed repeatedly between the family and the state according to different status and relationship, and reconciled the affection and justice to the maximum extent, which laid the basic pattern of the family-state ethics in ancient China.