春秋战国时期，中国古代的社会结构经历了翻天覆地的变化，士人阶层从贵族集团中分离而出，降为了一既不同于上层、也与下层有异的中间阶层。在这一系列变化中，士人丧失了掌“事”之权，但也因此垄断了“学”的资源，获得了不拘于某一特定阶级的广阔视野和批判现实政治的空间。重夺掌“事”之权，成为了春秋战国士人绵延数百年的主要目标，而其最大的困难在于，“学”、“事”的分离造成了社会对“文化”普遍的不信任情绪，追求“实用”成为了彼时的主流价值倾向。汉初士人承载和试图解决的正是这样的焦虑，他们对先秦诸子思想的继承和改造、他们具体的社会政治实践皆是围绕着这一问题而发。钱穆曾说过“从汉代起，中国历史上此下的政府……即士人政府”。但是如果细查汉初历史，我们会发现士人并非从一开始便占据着政治、社会掌控者的位置，而且正好相反，彼时的环境对于士人来说完全可以说是“黑暗时代”。汉朝初年的社会境况究竟如何，在这样的环境中汉初士人形成了怎样的独特性格，他们是怎样挣脱社会环境的束缚、并最终解决了春秋战国以来士人普遍焦虑的，这些正是本文试图解答的主要问题。文章的绪论部分首先集中探讨了士人阶层历经千年的发展到达汉初时所具备的阶级特点，力图对士人群体的范围做出尽量准确的划分。第一章主要分析了汉初七十年的社会状况和突出的社会问题，以探明汉初士人所面临的社会政治形势。第二、第三章在第一章的基础上进一步对汉初士人群体的具体活动进行了探究，对士人群体针对内部和外部的斗争分别作了解析。最后的结语对这一时期士人活动的结果和对后世的影响做了总结，从利弊两面对其进行了评估。通过这一系列的研究，我们希望能够从士人的角度对汉初的社会史、政治史和思想史形成一种视角独特的认识，并最终对当代中国社会有所助益。

Dramatic changes in the social structure of ancient China took place during the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, when the intellectual class was separated from aristocracy, and became a middle class differing from upper class and lower class. In these changes, intellectuals lost the power of Governing while dominated the resources of Academic Learning, gaining a no class-limited point of view and the space of criticizing realistic politics. For hundreds of years regaining the power of Governing proved to be the main goal of the intellectual class of these two periods. However, the biggest obstacle is that the separation of Governing and Academic Learning resulted in society’s disbelief towards Culture, and Practicality became the major value of the society. It is the concern that the intellectuals in early Han Dynasty held and attempted to solve, and it is also the source of their inheritance and adjustment to the philosophies of pre-Qin period and their practices to politics and society.Qianmu once stated, “In Chinese History, since Han Dynasty, Chinese government ……had been the government of intellectuals.” Nevertheless, if we consult early Han history, we will find out that the intellectual class did not dominate society and politics from the beginning. On the contrary, the contemporary circumstance is a thorough dark age to the intellectual class. What is the social circumstance in early Han Dynasty? What kind of distinctive character did the intellectuals form in this period? How did they release from the restriction of the social circumstance and solve their concern dating back to Spring and Autumn Period and Warring State Period? This essay is aimed to answer these questions.The introduction of this essay mainly discusses the features of the intellectual class in early Han Dynasty after thousands of years of development and attempts to accurately classify the range of the intellectual class. The first chapter of this essay mainly analyses the social circumstance and the highlighted social problems in seventy years of early Han Dynasty in order to identify the social and political circumstances that the intellectuals in early Han Dynasty were facing. Based on the first chapter, the second and the third chapter make a further research about the practical activities of the intellectual groups in early Han Dynasty, and make an analysis of the intellectuals’ internal conflicts and external conflicts. The conclusion of this essay summaries the results and influences of the intellectuals’ activities to the later generations, and evaluates it from both the advantages and the disadvantages. From these researches, the author expect readers to form a distinguish understanding of the history of society, politics and philosophy in early Han Dynasty from the perspective of the intellectual class, and eventually benefits the modern Chinese society.