亚当.斯密和文明社会的四个隐喻

亚当.斯密在西方政治哲学史上居于什么位置，这是一个尚未得到充分讨论的问题。借助“公正的旁观者”、“经济-理性人”、“看不见的手”、“守夜人”等经典隐喻,亚当.斯密提出了一个有关未来文明社会的乌托邦。这些隐喻影响深远,黑格尔的“理性的诡计”、马克思的“自由人的联合体”、德沃金的“赫拉克勒斯”、罗蒂的“自由反讽人”以及诺齐克的“最小国家”等观念都可以在那里找到思想源头。不同于克罗波西、罗尔斯等人的消极评价,斯密应当在政治哲学史上占据某个核心位置。就“斯密的启蒙困境”而言,斯密从哲学伦理学向政治经济学转向,既符合其思想发展的历程,也符合其思想发展的逻辑。尽管他后期对《道德情操论》多有修订,但尚不足构成推翻其基本主张和从政治经济学向哲学伦理学倒转的条件。

Adam Smith and Four Metaphors of the Civil Society

Does Adam Smith play an essential role in the history of political philosophy？Most political philosophers give a negative answer. Even though Isaiah Berlin in his classic essay 'Two Concepts of Liberty' says that Adam Smith 'believed that social harmony and progress were compatible with reserving a large area for private life over which neither the State nor any other authority must be allowed to trespass,' he provides Smith with a position opposite to that of Thomas Hobbes in the hi story of political philosophy. But when Joseph Cropsey comes to Adam Smith in The History of Political Philosophy , coedited with Leo Strauss, he comments that Smith's 'fame now rests upon the foundation he laid for the science of economics. In all of this there is not much of political philosophy to be seen, the close conjunction of economics and political philosophy, even or perhaps especially if tending toward the eclipse of latter, is a powerful fact of political philosophy|the men, like Smith, who were responsible for it would have a place in chronicle of political philosophy on that ground alone,' and concludes that Adam Smith plays a negative and uncentral role in the history of political philosophy. Besides,in his Lectures on the History of Political Philosophy , John Rawls says little about Smith. In A Theory of Justice , Rawls mentions Smith only when he criticizes utilitarianism. He does discuss Smith's ideas like 'invisible hand,' 'impartial spectator' and 'selfcommand,' but they secure no significant position for Smith in political philosophy. In a word, except Berlin, these main scholars of political philosophy don’t accept that Adam Smith plays an essential role in the history of political philosophy. In the light of classic metaphors as 'impartial spectator,' 'economic man,' 'invisible hand' and 'night watchman,' Adam Smith suggests an enlightenment utopia about civil society. These metaphors have such a seminal impact in the history of political philosophy that Hegel's 'die List der Vernunft,' Carl Marx's 'community of freeman,' Ronald Dworkin's 'Heracles,' Richard Rorty's 'liberal ironist' and Robert Nozick's 'minimal state' all bear some intellectual origin. So different from those scholars mentioned above, we conclude that Adam Smith holds some central role in the history of political philosophy. 'Adam Smith problem' is another topic to be discussed in the paper. Recently,Professor Luo Weidong of Zhejiang University suggests a new version of 'Adam Smith problem' and calls it 'Adam Smith enlightenment paradox.' Based on a comparative study on the meanings of Smith's key sentences in The Wealth of Nations and The Theory of Moral Sentiments , we find that there is no such a paradox between the two works. Individuality with sympathy, free market, decent society and limited government are the four elements that construct a basic frame for Smith to explore his utopia of civil society. It is clear that Smith has an intellectual turn from philosophical ethics to political economy. Even though Smith in the last year of his life made many revisions in his last version of The Theory of Moral Sentiments , those revisions still do not change his main stance on civil society.  In 1901, when The Wealth of Nations was first translated into Chinese, accompanied with Charles Darwin's and John S. Mill's works or ideas, Smith was one of first three modern western thinkers being introduced to the Chinese people. These great thinkers played essential roles in the modern Chinese enlightenment, and among them Smith was the first one who had a special sentiment towards China, studying China society comprehensively and providing accurate comments on China -- as a closed and traditional nation state. As Richard Rorty suggests, there are two enlightenment programs, one is philosophical, aiming at Truth|the other is political, aiming at Freedom. When the philosophical plan fails, the political one should continue. Now China is increasingly open to the world,and when we take Adam Smith's advice more seriously than before, it will make a new and even essential intellectual contribution to the construction of civil society in China today.