孔子政法观念之再认识

摘要

The law thought of Confucius presents some conservativefeatures.With reference from modern theoryof law,its formal meaning of “law”indicates “penalty”,and its essential meaning of “law”turns out to be the normative system of ritual and government order.His idea of law is basically limited in the range of penalty,and rituality undertakes partial functions of law,which are the theoretical foundations of core values such as benevolent government,virtue education,harmony,and so on.However,law is not only penalty. Accordingly,the core values of Confucius’idea of politics and law need to be reexamined.%作为儒家创始人的孔子，其法律思想带有一定的保守主义色彩。参照现代法学理论，形式意义上的“法”，在孔子的政法观念中就是“刑”；实质意义上的“法”，在孔子的政法观念中则是德礼、政刑的规范体系。孔子所理解的“法”基本被限制在“刑”的范围内，而“礼”则部分承担了“法”的“规范”职能，这也是“仁政”“德教”与“和谐”等孔子政法观念核心价值的立论基础。然而，当“法”不只是“刑”的时候，“仁政”“德教”与“和谐”等核心价值则需要被重新审视。