商鞅將「明」作為法之條件提出，但如此明白性並不能按字面意義理解。本文旨在揭示商鞅之明概念所具有的如下細節特徵：法之公開性、可理解性、確定性。本文將通過《商君書》查看以上細節特徵如何與明概念相聯繫。為了更細緻地考察明概念，本文對商鞅之明概念與現代的「透明性」（transparency）概念的相似性進行考察。透明性是在類似政府等各種現代組織當中為改革而追求的價值。本文也要考察商鞅的明概念所具備的思想史脈絡。尤其重點查看的是他對明概念的理解與先秦時代的其他思想家的理解有何不同。

The early Chinese legalist Shang Yang proposes “Ming” (明) as a quality that Fa (法, the law) must obtain. This term is usually translated as “clarity,” but this translation cannot capture Shang Yang’s concept of Ming. This paper understands it as a kind of umbrella term that covers the following three elements: openness to the public, comprehensibility, and determinacy. Thus understood, Ming is comparable to the modern concept, “transparency” as a value pursued by many kinds of modern organizations, such as government. This paper examines this commonality between the two early Chinese and modern concepts. In addition, this paper also explores the intellectual background of Shang Yang by focusing on how his conception of Ming differs from that of other thinkers in early China.