霍布斯“代表”概念背后的历史与政治

History and Politics Behind Hobbes'Concept of“Representation”

“代表”是现代政治中的一个经常被使用但其真实含义却未得到足够研究重视的概念。根据汉娜·皮特金的研究,虽然“代表”一词早就出现,但最早将“代表”明确作为政治理论的核心概念的是托马斯·霍布斯。然而,我们要理解霍布斯“代表”的概念和理论,仅仅关注其文本还不够,还需要理解其文本背后的历史与政治。霍布斯对“代表”概念的使用有明确的政治斗争用意,他希望使用当时英国内战时期议会派已经广泛使用的“代表”一词,来为君主主权权力辩护。

The term“representation”is a widely used but under⁃researched concept in contemporary political studies.According to Hannah Pitkin's research,although“representation”surfaced as a concept a long time ago,the first political theorist who specifically used it as the core concept of political theory is Thomas Hobbes.However,if we want to understand Hobbes'concept and theory of representation,it is not enough just to look at his texts.We still need to grasp the history and politics behind the texts.His use of the concept has very concrete intention of political struggle,as he wished to used the concept-which had already been used by the Parliamentarians during the English Civil War-to defend the sovereign power of the English Monarch.