伯林与自由民族主义:从观念分析向社会学视野的转换

Isaiah Berlin and Liberal Nationalism: From conceptual analysis to sociological perspective

本文通过讨论以赛亚·伯林的民族主义论述,分析自由民族主义的理论可能与复杂性。作者认为,伯林的自由多元主义与文化民族主义之间具有和解包容的可能,但始终存在着深刻的紧张,因此他未能提出一套清晰的关于“自由民族主义”的规范性学说。伯林思想的内在紧张标志着自由民族主义的实践困境,而仅仅在观念层面上做出分析疏理无法克服这种困境,必须借助具体语境下的社会学分析才有可能在实践中达成自由主义与民族主义的融合。文章在最后勾勒了当代中国在社会转型的条件下民族主义兴起的形态特征,指出了发展自由民族主义论述的必要性与困难所在。

Basing on discussing the theoretical possibility and complexity of “liberal nationalism' by examining Isaiah Berlin's reflection on nationalism,the author argues that there is tension between liberal pluralism and cultural nationalism in Berlin's thought, which is the reason why he failed to articulate a consistent set of normative theory of liberal nationalism. The difficulty that Berlin confronts with cannot be solved merely through the conceptual clarification at the level of political philosophy. The reconciliation between liberalism and nationalism, if possible, can only be achieved in practice, which requires a sociological approach sensitive to specific social and historical context. At the end, the author briefly delineates the features of nationalist discourse raised in the social transformation of contemporary China, and explores its relation to the prospect for liberal nationalism in China.