冯友兰中国哲学简史中英文版之第十四章韩非和法家.doc

CHAPTER 14 HAN FEI TZU AND THE LEGALIST SCHOOL 第十四章　韩非和法家THE feudalistic society of the early Chou dynasty operated according to two principles: one was that of the li (rituals, ceremonies, rules of conduct, mores); the other was that of the hsing (penalties, punishments). The li formed the unwritten code of honor governing the conduct of the aristocrats, who were known as chun tzu (a term literally meaning son of a prince, princely man, or gentleman); the hsing, on the contrary, applied only to the people of ordinary birth who were known as shu jen (common men) or hsiao jen (small men). This is the meaning of the saying in the Li Chi (Book of Rites): The li do not go down to the common people; the hsing do not go up to the ministers. (Ch. 10.)西周封建社会根据两条原则办事：一条是“礼”，一条是“刑”。礼是不成文法典，以褒贬来控制“君子”即贵族的行为。刑则不然，它只适用于“庶人”或“小人”即平民。这就是《礼记》中说的：“礼不下庶人，刑不上大夫。”（《曲礼》上） Social Background of the LegalistsThis was possible because the structure of Chinese feudalistic society was comparatively simple. Kings, princes, and feudal lords were all related to each other either by blood or by marriage. In theory the princes of each state were subordinate to the king, and the feudal lords within these states were in turn subordinate to their prince. But in actual fact, these nobles, having long inherited their rights from their ancestors, came in the course of lime to regard these rights as existing independently of their theoretical allegiance to their superiors. Thus the many states that belonged to the hegemony theoretically controlled by the central Chou King were in actual fact semi-independent, and within each of these states there were likewise many semi-independent houses of lesser nobles. Being relatives, these various feudatories maintained social and diplomatic contacts, and transacted business, if any, according to their unwritten code of gentleman s agreements. That is to say, their conduct was governed by li.法家的社会背景 这样做，是可能的，因为小国封建社会的结构比较简单。天子、诸侯和大夫都是以血亲或姻亲互相联系着。在理论上，