荀子“法後王”說究辨

Probing Hsun Zi's "Modeling after Latter Kings"

陳禮彰(Li-Chang Chen)

《國文學報》 37期 (2005/06) Pp. 21-48

摘要

對於未深究荀子思想的人而言，「法後王」說似乎是針對孟子的「法先王」而提出，其實不然。
荀子批評子思、孟子的「略法先王而不知其統」，重點不在「法先王」，而在「略」而「不知其統」。因為荀子雖強調法後王，更暢言法先王。而先王、後王的本質同為倫理規範的依據，之所以一分為二，是由於對應的課題不同，永恆不變的道理原則以先王為法，與時俱進的文物制度則以後王為法。
鑑於先秦諸子皆各自稱述上古先王以證成己說，卻不肯定禮義；且俗儒不知尊崇禮義而貶抑詩書，導致接近墨家並趨向流俗的頹風，為振衰起弊，荀子乃轉而提倡法後王，以建立禮義之統。而法後王主張的提出，不僅在治道理想上符合孔子「從周」的理念，且在政策施行上符合因革損益的原則。
由此可見，「法先王」與「法後王」在荀子的學說中是兼容並蓄的，甚至可說，強調後者目的在成全前者。

關鍵字

荀子 ； 法後王 ； 法先王 ； 禮義之統

並列摘要

Those who do not fully understand the philosophy of Hsun Zi may think his idea of ”modeling after latter kings” was proposed in contrast to Mencius' ”modeling after former kings”. It was not the truth, however.
Tzu Szu and Mencius had mentioned that people ”did not follow the examples of former kings and were ignorant the principles of former kings. However, Hsun Zi argued that understanding the principles of former kings was much more important than ”modeling after former kings”. Although Hsun Zi proposed the idea of ”modeling after latter kings”, he actually placed more emphasis on former kings. In essence, both ”former kings” and ”latter kings” could act as the models of social rules as well as proper conduct. The reason to make such distinction was because the issues to cope with were different: the principles of the ”former kings” needed to be adopted as dealing with the eternal truth, while the examples of the ”latter kings” were followed as facing the occasions of the current rites and social rules.
Although the Pre-Qin philosophers proclaimed they carried on the heritage from former kings, they did not emphasize etiquette and principles, which resulted in the popularity of Mohists' philosophy. Therefore, Hsun Zi r proposed the idea of modeling after ”latter kings” in order to establish the principles of social rules, which not only complied with Confucius' idea of ”obeying Kings of Chou”, but also adjusted etiquette and principles appropriate to changing circumstances.
In conclusion, the idea of ”modeling after latter kings” is compatible with that of ”modeling after former kings” in Hsun Zi's philosophy. Furthermore, the reason for modeling the latter was actually to protect and accomplish the idea of the former.

並列關鍵字

Hsun Zi ； modeling after latter kings ； modeling after former kings ； the principles of social rules