《大国宪制》的社会学论证——从自创生系统理论切入

Sociological Argument of Constitutional System of China——From the Theory of Autopoietic Systems

苏力教授的《大国宪制》重构了我们对中国古代法律制度,比如恋爱婚姻、区域划分、国家统一等的理解,但也引出了某种正当性和合法性的质疑,而社会学上的自创生系统理论可以为该书提供伦理上的论证。根据系统和自创生理论,任何具有系统特征的事物都和环境存在清晰的区分,其总是采取一种封闭的运作方式,独立处理外界环境信息。只有在遭遇严重危机的时刻,它才会启动变革,如同基因变异一样。《大国宪制》描述的中国古代法治实践也有这一特征。中国古代法治虽不同于西方现代为解决内部冲突而设计的宪制制度,但也是一种以自身所独有的运作方式解决内部冲突、防范外部威胁而逐渐演化出来的制度形式,其本身就具有正当性和合法性。需要注意的是,自创生系统理论基于一种进化论的思考,多以社会整体的立场来看问题,与现代法学理论尊奉个人本位确有不同。

Professor Su li’s Constitutional System of China reconstructs our understanding of ancient Chinese legal institutions,such as love and marriage,regional division,and national unification,but it has aroused controversy over rationality and legality.According to the system and autopoietic theory popular in recent years,any object as a system is clearly distinguished from the environ- ment. It operates in a closed way and processes the information of the externalenvironment. . According to the system and autopoietic theory popular in recentyears, any object as a system is clearly distinguished from the environment. Itoperates in a closed way and processes the information of the external environment. Only when it encounters a serious crisis will it change, just like the mutation of genes. The practice of rule of law in ancient China introduced in Constitution System of China is quite reasonable. Although it is different from the westernconstitutional system designed to solve internal conflicts, it is also a form of system gradually evolved to solve internal conflicts and guard against external threatsin its own unique way of operation. However, the autopoietic system theory is akind of evolutionary thinking and looks at the problem from the standpoint of society as a whole, which is quite different from modern legal theory in respectingindividual standard and needs to be paid attention to.