庄子平等、自由观发微

庄子的道论,具有一种对传统及世俗的以贵贱有等、上下有别为精神的社会等级秩序观念予以颠覆和解构的理论因素。从人性的真谛便是自然性出发,庄子强调各种社会关系及规范都是对人性的桎梏和斫伐,并意识到人人平等不仅是自然所赋,也是人性的本质要求。庄子将自由表述为“逍遥游”,即心灵的无拘无束,自由翱翔。表面看,这仅是精神的自由,但庄子的自然主义与自由哲学一旦与社会政治话语相衔接,必然走向政治自由的诉求。庄子在中国历史上破天荒第一次对平等、自由问题进行了认真的探讨,是中国古代个人意识觉醒的标志,其所包含的对君主专制政治的批判与声讨精神乃是中国古代政治法律思想中最有价值的内容。

Zhuangzi's Thoughts on Equality and Liberty

Zhuangzi's Taoism is provided with subversive and deconstructive elements on the hierarchical system of traditional and temporal society.Starting from the notion that the essence of humanness is naturalness,Zhuangzi emphasizes that all kinds of social relations and rules are shackles for humanness.He also realizes that equality is the inherent and essential requirement of humanness.Zhuangzi expresses liberty as "Happy Excursion",which means the unconstraint of soul.Seemingly,it only refers to the freedom of spirit;however,once Zhuangzi's naturalism and liberalism are connected to social politics,they will be consequentially translated into political claims.Zhuangzi is the first one in Chinese history to discuss equality and liberty,which indicates the disenchantment of individual consciousness.Zhuangzi's critical spirit of absolute monarchy is the most valuable part in ancient Chinese political and legal thoughts.