摘要
在宋以后的近世中国,始终有一个在世界范围里独具特色的“士社会”。这种以士为中心、庶人为主体的社会,形成于宋儒因应“郡县空虚”的大势从政治转向社会的“礼下庶人”努力。士人以“乡”为场域,不以百姓为潜在的管制对象,而以乡民为可提升的自主力量。通过助百姓治生而化民成俗,达到因民生在而文化存的效果。这种行道于民间的尝试,是对传统看重人伦日用思想的进一步提升,意味着原本针对全天下的“道”可以落到地方,而民间秩序可具有合乎“道”的自足性。以道义为基础的大众公认,乃成为秩序形成的基础。从制度就是做事的办法之角度言,这样一种自下而上的“同意支持”机制看似“无形”,却长期维持着一个相对稳定的社会秩序,造就一个具有合道性的自治民间,既制约了君主专制的限度,又保持具有主体性的地方活力,使地方秩序可以“独立”于政治的变化而存续。
In the post-Song era of early modern China,there existed a uniquely distinctive scholar society in a global context.This society centered on the scholar-officials and with common people as its main body,emerged from the efforts of Song Confucian scholars who,in response to the widespread“hollowing out of prefectures and counties,”shifted their focus from politics to society with the aim of“extending ritual propriety to common people.”The scholar-officials operated within the realm of the“village”and did not view the populace as potential objects of control but rather as an autonomous force capable of being elevated.Through aiding the people in their livelihood and shaping social customs,they achieved the result of sustaining culture by ensuring people's well-being.This attempt to practice the“Way”among the common folk was a further enhancement of the traditional emphasis on everyday human relationships,implying that the“Way,”originally intended for all under heaven,could be implemented at the local level and that the grassroots order could possess self-sufficiency in line with the“Way”.Public recognition based on moral principles became the foundation for the formation of social order.From the perspective that institutions are merely methods of getting things done,this“consent and support”mechanism,which appeared“invisible,”managed to sustain a relatively stable social order for a long time.It cultivated a grassroots society with intrinsic conformity to the“Way,”which both limited the reach of monarchical despotism and preserved local vitality with its own agency,enabling local order to“persist independently”in political changes.
出处
《清华大学学报(哲学社会科学版)》
北大核心
2025年第1期1-23,260,共24页
Journal of Tsinghua University(Philosophy and Social Sciences)
