潘 丹 郑妍萱
摘 要：本文试图以文明史的视角来呈现孟德斯鸠的思想图景。在《论法的精神》中，孟德斯鸠探索了构成英国自由基础的分权制衡原则是如何在政制变迁中逐渐呈现的，但其内在的极端自由倾向潜藏着专制的威胁；与此相对，他在《波斯人信札》中描绘的波斯帝国则构成专制的镜像：即使恐惧成为支配心灵的主导原则，自由仍然构成了人性最基本的追求。而上述讨论都是为了回应法国绝对君主的集权倾向可能会导致容纳温和自由的君主制堕落为专制。由此，自由价值的普遍性与文明社会的多元性构成孟德斯鸠文明史观的两个维度。本文的创新之处在于打破了关于自由与专制的二元对立化理解，力图说明在孟德斯鸠的思想视域中，自由与专制是一组相伴相生、交错纠缠的概念。
关键词：孟德斯鸠；文明史；自由；宽和
【作者】潘丹，历史学博士，北京外国语大学历史学院讲师。郑妍萱，北京外国语大学历史学院世界史专业学生。
【Title】The Universality of Liberty and the Plurality of Civilizations: Montesquieu’s Historical Perspectives on Civilization
Abstract: This article attempts to present a prospect of Montesquieu’s thought through the perspective of civilization history. In On the Spirit of the Laws , Montesquieu explores how the principle of checks and balances, which formed the basis of English liberty, gradually emerged in the context of constitutional change, but with the threat of despotism lurking in its inherent tendency towards extreme liberty. In contrast, the Persian Empire he portrays in his Letters to the Persians is the mirror image of despotism: even as fear becomes the dominant principle of the mind, liberty constitutes the deepest and most fundamental pursuit of human nature. And the above discussions are all in response to the fact that the centralizing tendencies of the French absolute monarchy could lead to the degeneration of the monarchy, which accommodated moderation and liberty, into despotism. Thus, the universality of liberty and the plurality of civilized societies constitute the two dimensions of Montesquieu’s view of civilization history. The innovation of this article is to break the dichotomy between liberty and despotism and to present the idea that liberty and despotism are a set of intertwined concepts in Montesquieu’s thought.
Key words: Montesquieu, Civilization history, liberty, moderation