『法』思想小考 --統一秦の國家理論の一側面--

Abstract

The conception of fa during the Qin Dynasty is a very important issue in the study of the ruling ideology of the Qin Dynasty and in the process of the formation of the despotic state in ancient China. However, due to ideological preconceptions about various schools of thought such as Confucianism, Legalism, and Taoism, the predominance of Legalism in the Qin dynasty, and the problem of arbitrary interpretations of texts, the concept of fa during the Qin dynasty has been simply equated with the thought of Han Fei 韓非, i. e., Legalist thought, and this view has been mechanically repeated over and over again. This paper examines seven terms related to fa in the Stele Inscriptions of Qin Shi Huang such as fa du 法度(rule and measure), fa shi 法式 (rule and model), Sheng fa 聖法 (the Sageʼs laws), ding fa 定法 (to fix the law), feng fa 奉法 (to comply with the law), ming fa 明法 (as a noun, the shining law), ming Fa 明法 (as a verb, to illuminate the law), and demonstrates that these seven terms were not new creations produced during the Qin Dynasty, but they were in fact terms that have been widely used since the Warring States Period, and continued to be used by the Qin Dynasty in the same sense or appropriately modified. The term fa du, which occupies the most important position among these terms, originally referred to the ritual system and norms in a broad sense in ancient times, as the time period was seen from the Warring States vantage point. However, the meaning of this term was expanded and abstracted by Xunzi 荀子 and began to represent the concept of spiritual order, i. e. ritual order. In contrast, because Han Fei 韓非pursued absolute stability in such order, he replaced the core of the fa du with the consciousness of law being “a necessity” based on his emphasis on the consciousness of fa involving absolute compliance. In contrast, the Qin Empireʼs conception of fa du contained both interpretations and also introduced the concept of “sage” (聖), making fa du into the fundamental order of human society, which was based on the order of rituals and the consciousness of law that was created by the Great Sage (Qin Shi Huang). Fa shi was the external manifestation of fa du, referring to the external idealized model, which served to a guide people’s general behavior. Qin Shi Huang’s fa shi was actually the ideal form of the state that ideally expressed fa du which was aimed at maintaining social stability. In addition, the objects of feng fa and ming fa (used as a verb) are basically limited to officials. Although ding fa and ming fa were targets of the entire society, these were actually policies necessary to unify the country and cannot be deemed extreme examples of Legalist thought. Examples of sheng fa are few, and it is difficult to assert its meaning at present, but it can be considered as a concept similar to fa shi. Although all these expressions seem to belong to the Legalist tradition, if we comprehensively observe the structure of the Stele Inscriptions of Qin Shi Huang and the terms related to fa found on them, we can conclude that the Qin idea of fa was not the product of a certain specific school of thought, and we see that fa was a highly realistic and comprehensive concept.