卢梭的梦与苏格拉底

卢梭继承苏格拉底的古典政治哲学,他以苏格拉底哲学质疑启蒙运动。卢梭提出,商业文明滋生出毫无公民责任感的布尔乔亚,而人类社会的最佳状况是公民社会,只有公民社会中的人们才能够追求德性。与之相应,公民社会中的哲人不应当普遍启蒙民众,因为启蒙运动只会使民众暴露在自然的暴戾之中而无处容身,哲人也必然随之变质。无论是在政治著作中还是在自传性著作中,卢梭都意在调节公民社会与公民哲人的关系,并试图建立适合公民社会的宗教或情感教育。可惜的是,卢梭的继承者们没能坚持卢梭的苏格拉底主义,他们对卢梭的偏执理解反而推进了现代性浪潮。

Rousseau’s Reveries and Socrates

Rousseau carries on classical political philosophy which is originated by Socrates.He puts the Enlightenment to the trial by virtue of Socratic philosophy.Rousseau suggests that the bourgeois has been nourished in commercial civilization,and the bourgeois is deficient in sense of civic responsibility.However,the best human society is the civil society,in which the men could pursue virtues.Correspondingly,the philosopher shouldn’t enlighten the multitude universally in civil society,since he knows that as a result of Enlightenment,the multitude would be exposed to the harshness of the nature without a shelter,and therefore the philosopher would deteriorate.Both in his political works and autobiographic works,Rousseau aims at managing the relation between the civil society and the civil philosopher,and he tries to establish the Civil Religion or the Emotive Education.Unfortunately,Rousseau’s successors were not able to insist his Socratism,they misunderstood the intention of Rousseau and pushed forward the waves of modernity.