政治与社会——基于对《论法的精神》的诠释

本文以对孟德斯鸠思想的社会学诠释为出发点，重返《论法的精神》，借此澄清从现代政治科学到社会学的学科转换。一方面，孟德斯鸠借助对法的重新定义，将政治科学的视野拓宽到政府之下的社会，从而推动了从政治科学到社会学的过渡；另一方面，通过澄清政府的原则与民族的一般精神、风俗和礼仪的关系指出，在孟德斯鸠那里，政治并不是社会的一个子系统或附属领域，而是从政治视角出发来看的整个社会，甚至还超出了社会。借此，我们希望突破当前社会学重视社会，轻视政治的学科思维。

Politics and Society:An Interpretation of The Spirit of Laws

Starting with Comte and Durkheim’s sociological reading of Montesquieu’s The Spirit of Laws, this paper attempts to offer a reinterpretation of the work in order to clarify the transition from political science to sociology. This will help us to examine the basic issues and propositions of sociology. According to Montesquieu’s critique, political scientists in the past saw society through the lens of natural law and social contract, excluding laws and customs as they were seen as either arbitrary outcomes of the will of legislator or practical actions by contingency, things of non scientific nature. By redefining the concept of law, Montesquieu expanded the scope of political science from the study of human nature and political institutions to society as a whole, including climate, soil, the general spirit, mores, and manners of a nation, commerce, and religions as well. Thus, it promoted the transtion form political science to sociology. However, politics continued to be Montesquieu’s primary interest. The principle of the governments, i.e. the passions of the citizens under particular governments, constitutes the political expression of the general spirit, the mores and the manners of the nations. In his view, it is the choice and action of a nation in political sphere that exercise definitive influence on other parts of a society. Legislation is the precise point that joins the principles of governments with the mores,manners, and general spirit of a nation, something that was overlooked in Comte and Durkheim’s works. It is understood that for Montesquieu politics is not a subsystem of society, instead, it is a perspective through which a society can be examined as a whole, or a perspective that even transcends society itself. This brings us to question the current trend in sociology that places all its focus on society but neglects politics.