History in the Political Theory of "The Spirit of the Fa"
June 08, 2022 09:10 Source: "China Social Sciences", June 8, 2022, Issue 2422 Author: Dai Xiaoguang

Effective effort by Montesquien,The division of "autocracy" and "freedom" now seems to have become the basic perspective of Westerners thinking about political issues。But,Different from the heirs of the later generations,For Montesquien,"Free and Republican Government" is not so much an authoritative political standard,It is still a tradition to be established。Therefore,How to break through the theoretical framework of the classical government,Elapse the new free political system,It becomes the core purpose of the spirit that runs through Montesquien's "On the Spirit of the Fa"。Facts,In Montesquien's demonstration of the free government,"History" plays a key role,Become a new standard for discussing politics,In the history of thought,Montesquiek has also become one of the founders of historicism。

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From the perspective of appearance,The political discussion in "The Spirit of the Fa" is obvious,Although the whole book begins with the discussion of the type of government,But contains a lot of legal traditions、Geography、Discussion on issues such as business and trade,Make the book with historic experience research appearance。Actually,Comparison of Montesquien's pioneer,This historical writing method does not seem to be necessary。Because,Like Hobbes and Locke,From the starting point of an absolute "natural person",You can get the theoretical basis of liberalism in the contractual framework,No need to use the inspection of ancient and modern historical experience。So,Montesquiek adopts this historic research Bet365 lotto review method,What are the intentions? Historical methods for elaborating the new republic theory,What are the special features?

Montesquiem did began to describe its political theory through summing up historical experience,Therefore, it seems that there is a lack of clarity -when classified the government,Montesquiek is obviously not a clarity paradigm that follows Aristotle,is classified according to the number of rulers and advantages and disadvantages of the rulers,Instead, it has a confusion -Montesquiek divides the government as the monarchy、Democratic system and autocracy,More like the results of experience classification of various politics in history。So,until the middle part,"The Spirit of the Fa" only put forward the most critical of the book of the whole book -British Commercial Republican Government。This "supplementary" discussion will undoubtedly enhance the reader's impression that the spirit of "On the Fa" does not follow a certain theoretical framework。

but,Montesquien's narrative method really lacks logical reason? We still cannot easily conclude。At least,From the perspective of narrative method and demonstration strategy,"The Spirit of the Dharma" of the "empirical" explanation of political issues,Actually leading patient readers on a road to explore with the author,After analyzing the political characteristics and institutional composition of the other three politics in detail,Only lead the real theme of the work -British Commercial Republican Government。If so,Montesquien actually uses the British Republican government as a conclusion for a long exploration process,Only when the timing is ripe。So,For readers,Different from directly accepting a certain theoretical position is,Due to the results of the British Republican government under the leadership Bet365 app download of Montesquien,So,Readers not only get the final conclusion,It is more likely to master the reasons for Montesquien's preference for "British Republican"。If so,Historical writing instead more helps to increase the persuasive power of expositions than theoretical expositions。Facts,Readers in real history have not missed the intention of Montesquien to praise the British free republic,It can also become a proof of this writing strategy。

  Contradictions and intentions in the discussion of ancient and modern government

related to the current problem,There is a contradictory face in the political analysis of Montesquien。On the one hand,Montesquien proposed the advantages and disadvantages of the three politics -democratic system is the common rule of the people,The monarchy is the legal rule of the monarch,Authority is the monarch's dedication to the law。Actually,This "should" concern comes from the bottom -up people's position -Republican system means the self -rule of all people,Autocracy means that the monarch's dedication to the freedom of the people,How much the monarchy has got rid of autocracy,depends on how much the monarch is limited -Montesquiek believes it because of it,The aristocratic level that can limit the monarchy constitutes the essence of the monarchy。

but but,While evaluating the government with a moral perspective of republica,Montesquiek from the perspective of government maintenance,Neutral、No difference to plan for all politics -the principle of democratic system to maintain itself is virtue,The principle of the monarchy is honor,and maintaining the authoritarian government need fear。Visible,Montesquiem, on the one hand, put forward historic neutral research on various politics in a descriptive way,But its discussion is clearly concerned with republic "Ying Ry"。So,Bet365 lotto review Montesquien is in the moral concerns of republican,Why does this objective and neutral appearance show this value? What is the difference between the Republicanism of Montelquine and the classical republicanism?,Why is it still outside the classical republic,What about the modern republic of Britain? What should I think of the distinction between the two republics of ancient and modern times?。

If you consider it carefully,Montesquien is not suspicious in the description of the classical republic。First,Montesquien's classical democracy is not a loyal description of ancient democracy,and more belong to a product of conceptual -this democratic system is completely different from Plato、Democratic political system criticized by Aristotle,It is similar to a "Volkswagen Noble System" that promotes the noble republic to all people。other,This republic also integrates the equality of Christianity。This composite model has therefore become a collection of predecessor's virtues: not only contains citizen's political loyalty,It also reflects the restraint of self -restraint and the spirit of devotion。What is even more confusing is,Montesquiek also uses a strange pen to indicate,This ancient republican government is actually very alienated with the daily orientation of contemporary people。Because,The Republican Love as a political virtue "requires always placing public interests above personal interests,All the virtues of individuals are just the first and private ... Political virtue requires discarding self,But this is always a very difficult thing "。

Montesquien's comments are most prominently reflected the true attitude towards ancient republics,"Patriotic leadership leads to folk customs,Folk style leads to patriotism。The lower the degree of personal feelings, the lower the Bet365 lotto review degree of satisfaction,The higher the degree of investment in public feelings。Why do monks love their practice so much? It is precisely because Xiu will make it unbearable。Training rules deprives all the supports of ordinary people's feelings,The only remaining is the feelings of torture their training rules "(" The Spirit of the Fa "Chapter 5 2)。The reader unexpectedly discovered,Mengsquien's description of classical democracy seems to be praising democracy,Among them, it just reveals obvious doubts -the ancient Republican government is like a church composed of abstinence,Detaled the basic satisfaction of human nature,Therefore,The so -called selfless love for the community has too far away from ordinary people。Montesquien even said,"It should be regarded as a society of athletes and soldiers" ("The spirit of the law" Chapter 4, section 8),If people love frugality, "both naturally and commonly used to,Alkibiad will not be known in the world "(" The Spirit of the Fa "Chapter 5, Section 4)。

  "Modern Experience" and the historicalism in "The Spirit of the Fa"

This bright and derogatory pen implies the real attitude of "The Spirit of the Fa" to the ancient republics。Facts,The true opposition in the political doctrine of "On the Spirit of the Fa",Not a simple opposition between republic and autocracy,On the contrary,Three kinds of government -autocracy、monarchy and ancient republic,All constitute the negative side of the British business republic。Compared with the monarchy and autocracy,Ancient Republic as an "anti -example",Further revealed the deep consideration of Montesquien: What Montesquiek wants to establish is not only the authority of the British business government,It is a new modern perspective and the authority of modern experience -and inspire bet365 best casino games citizens to restrain selfishness、Ancient republics devoted to the public cause,This modern experience fundamentally recognizes the natural desire of the person,and use daily human nature as the basis of political system。So,Montesquien's real criticism of ancient German politics is,The ancient republican system even achieved the rule of the public,Even showing the spirit height of the people who are not happy,But it is still a fundamental mistake,Because the public is still in essence, it is still subject to the autocracy that violates human religion and German concepts。

The opposition of ancient and modern republics reveals the key considerations of "The Spirit of the Fa" -the reason why the whole book is used as a discovery of the commercial republic as a difficult exploration,The fundamental reason is,Montesquien's outline is out of ancient times、Find the picture of the homeland in the modern world- "The Spirit of the Fa" political discussion therefore has a historical meaning: if the German republic represents the past,The monarchy represents the moment of Europe,So,Against the background of the "autocracy",The true "mild government",That is, the commercial republican system represents the future worth exploring。This is also the historical direction found by Montesquien to settle in modern life experience。

We can understand from this,Montesquien's political discussion why has the nature of historical philosophy -Montesquien intends to establish a "best government" on the premise of getting rid of the "Best Political Theory",To establish this best government,The first thing to break is the ancient concept of absolute justice on the universal human nature。In this process,In the natural sense, the concept of exploring the best government and absolute justice is actually reduced to a Greek style、bet365 best casino games Regional "National Spirit",The replacement is the historical standard that is more suitable for human natural nature。In this historical philosophical sense,We recognize,Can serve the mild political system of ordinary people in a power checks and balance,It is the "spirit of law" pursued by Montesquien。

  (Author Unit: School of Literature, Renmin University of China)

Editor in charge: Chen Jing
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