管子「侈靡篇」について

Abstract

On the chapter "On luxury" of the Guanzi there is the early pathbreaking work done by Guo Moruo 郭沫若. Guo Moruo's views on the text, viz. that it was formed in the beginning of the Han dynasty and that it expresses the views of contemporary merchants, are, however, hard to accept. The chapter expresses what might be called the new "theory of the state" of the times, a theory that also had a place for the newly risen class of merchants, and the point of view taken in the text is thus always that of the state and never that of merchants. It also seems best to regard the text as having been formed in the late Warring States period. --The text of the Chapter "On luxury" is in great disarray and cannot be regarded as being complete, but if it is seen in the light of the whole of the Guanzi, it can be shown that it shares in full measure the characteristics of the text it is a chapter of. One of these characteristics is an emphasis on regional differences and an opposition to standardisation: it is only by investigating regional characteristics that the perfection of a true state can be brought into existence. One of the things to be investigated is thus how to integrate the newly risen class of merchants into the frame of the state. This approach is the complete opposite of that taken in the Hanfeizi 韓非子, according to which merchants are to be completely suppressed. Both text attack frontally the central problems of their time.