“以乐治国”思想沿革脉络探

音乐是人类的圣物。爱乐几乎是人类共有的天性。但在古代社会能挖掘出音乐治国安民功能者唯古中国而已。儒家治国靠两大支柱:礼与乐。“礼主异,乐主和”。“异”易致乱,“和”则可止乱。故“异”是不得已而为之的等级制,“和”则是目的。有异有和,正所谓“和而不同”。和则国治,和则民安。世界其他古国如古希腊,也曾给予音乐以崇高地位。毕达哥拉斯认为,天体运动形成了美妙的音乐,整个宇宙是一个结构和谐与发出乐声的物体。亚里士多德则认为,音乐具有三种功能:教育、净化心灵、精神享受。但是,古代西方仅认识到音乐的神奇,只发现了音乐的教育、净化心灵及精神享受功能,并未意识到音乐尚有强大的治国功能。古代西方从未将音乐与法(尤其是国家根本大法)并列起来。只有古代中国将音乐与国家根本大法并列,并将其作为治国平天下的最佳工具。这种以乐为法,以乐治国的思想为古代中国所独有。将这种思想挖掘出来,取其精华去其糟粕,为现代社会所用,当有重要价值。本文旨在勾勒出中国古代以乐治国思想发展的基本脉络。

Development of the Thoughts of "Governed by Music"

Music is the manna of all human being.It is the nature shared by all the human being to love.But ancient China is the only civilization that used music to manage the state and settle the people.Confucian managed the stats by two major means:etiquette and music.The etiquette was used to support the rigid social ladder,which may lead the state to chaos.On contrary,the music can bring peace and harmony to the state,which is the ultimate object of the governor.Once the state can function in harmony,the people can settle down in peace.The other civilization such as the ancient Greece also highly valued the music.Pythagoras thought that movement of the celestial bodies generate music,the whole universe is a harmony system that can utter the tone.Aristotle thought that there are three functions of music:educating,refining and entertaining.But all of them had only noticed the basic functions of the music(educating,refining and entertaining),and go no further to explore the powerful function of music:managing the state affair.Music never shared the same importance with the law in ancient civilizations.In ancient China,music is of equal importance with the fundamental law of the states.Study of this ideology and use it as reference of modern social management would be necessary.The essay is to outline the major development of the ancient Chinese thoughts of "govern by music".