【摘要】 从全面了解方旭东《儒道思想与现代社会》的背景和意图上看，该书是一本凝聚了作者多年的理论思考、具有学术意义和价值的重要著作，但具体到有关政治义务的议题上，作者至少在对荀子有关政治义务的梳理方面似乎只用心于事实上的说明，或对政治义务的由来给出了原因上的解释。而“政治义务”这一概念的成立，至少可以有两种不同的解释，即原因的解释与理由的解释，它们之间并不相同；说明了荀子思想中政治义务的由来，并不等于证成了这种政治义务的正当，而后一方面尤其吃紧。更多还原

【Abstract】 As a newly published book, Professor Fang Xudong’s Confucianism, Taoism and Contemporary Society involves many aspects, such as “political obligations”, “filial piety dilemma”, “women’s issues” and “animal issues”. This article will focus on the first part of “political obligation”, which is mainly about the concept of “Xunzi’s political obligation” and offers some explanations. According to the author, the political obligations in Xunzi come from the need to avoid war and to live a harmonious life, so it is necessary for us to obey the various political obligations formulated by the King. The author’s claim is well-founded and faithful to Xunzi’s thinking. The question we want to raise however is that the concept of political obligation requires not only the “explanation of the cause”, but also the “justification of the reason”. Therefore, the author’s argument is far from ending the philosophical inquiry: we need to give solid reasons for how such a “political obligation” can be morally justified? Or rather, we need an equally solid arguments to show that we have a moral reason or basis for submitting to the rule of political power.更多还原