從《韓非子》看法家論「明君」

The Enlighted Ruler in the Book of Ham Fei-zi

先秦諸子號稱百家，其中以法家學說最切中治術，而法家學者中又以韓非能集其大成。今日實行民主法治，雖不同於韓非的君主法治，但是不論古今中外，主政者的智、能與德行，實繫施政之成敗。故就《韓非子》所論，探討所歸「明君」之道。韓非認為絕大多數國君的智、能與德行，未必出眾，故應任勢而無為。無為之道：一在去智能而以法治事、用人、與考核；一在去好惡智巧、虛靜自處，以術御臣，終而君逸臣勞；而二者成功的關鍵在於信賞必罰。

Those philosophers of the pre-Qin period are referred to as “One Hundred Schools”. Among all their theories, the Legalists' are most pertaining to the ways of governing. Of all the Legalists, Han Fei is considered the representative of the school because of his eclectic views. Despite that democratic rules of laws, which are practiced nowadays, are different from the monarchical rules of laws, the ruler's intelligence, ability and virtues are the deciding factors for the success or failure of his administration, no matter it is in the past or present time, in a foreign state or our country. Therefore, this paper intends to explore the so-called the ways of 「enlightened ruler」based on the teachings of《Han Fei Zi》（The Philosophy of Han Fei）. Han Fei believes that most rulers are not distinguished with their intelligence, ability and virtues, thus they should employ their authority and do nothing. The ways of doing nothing is to: 1. abolish one5s intelligence and ability and use laws to regulate matters, employ people and do evaluations; 2. abolish personal likes and dislikes, wits and tact, and keep oneself an open and peaceful mind, using skills to tame his vassals and eventually the life for the ruler is easy and his vassals are busy. The key to the success of the above two is to give rewards or punishment strictly and impartially.