试论儒家文化中的人权思想

儒家文化是一种人文主义文化,处处闪耀着重人重民的人文主义光芒,其中就含有一定的人权思想。这些人权思想对世界文明做出过重大贡献。但是由于种种原因,儒家的人权思想长期被忽视了。儒家文化所含的人权思想包含在儒家有关的伦理和道德之中。儒家并没有直接提出“人权”这个词汇,而是使用人性、仁爱、至诚、民本、仁政、中庸、和为贵以及天人合一等词汇来表达其人权理念。因此,儒家思想中包含的人权思想是一种伦理型人权思想。儒家人权思想诞生在封建社会,不可避免地打上了阶级和时代的烙印,其中有不少的封建糟粕,儒家把人权的实现,寄托在“道德”的力量上,依靠“仁君”,而不是寄托在制度改革的基础上,这就使儒家人权的实现没有法律和制度的保障。儒家希望靠“仁政”和“德治”来实现人的权利,是一种消极被动的人权思想。但从整体来说,儒家文化的人权思想是中华民族的优秀文化传统之一,是中华民族的优秀文化遗产,对中国和世界民主思想的发展做出过巨大贡献,并且仍将对新世纪世界人权事业的发展产生影响。

Confucianism and the Confucian Ideal of Human Rights

The Confucian is rich in human rights ideals, which are outstanding tradition of the Chinese culture. Although the Confucian did not use the words of "Human Rights" in their analects, the ideals of human rights are formally expressed in their writings by the usage of phrases such as humanity, kindheartedness, sincere, the people are the foundations of a government, the policy of benevolence, the Doctrine of the Mean, human harmony, and the combination of universe and mankind into one concept of human identity, and the like, through which the Confucian ideals of human rights emerged. The Confucian ideals of human rights emphasize the power of moral principles in the obtainment and enjoyment of rights in human societies. From a historical perspective, the Confucian ideals of human rights had contributed to the development of Chinese and western democratic ideals and would promote the development of universe human rights ideals in the 21st century.