政治视野中的契约精神——社会契约论的挑战与复兴

Contractual Spirit in Politics——The Challenge and Rejuvenation of Theory of Social contract

契约精神是商品经济发展到一定程度所形成的一系列原则和规范所凝聚而成的精神。从政治视野看,它主要由自由精神、平等精神、权利至上精神等要素构成。近代霍布斯、洛克、卢梭等把经济领域的契约精神运用到社会领域并提出了社会契约论的思想;之后,社会契约论思想受到功利主义和黑格尔的有力的挑战;上世纪罗尔斯对功利主义进行了批判,提出了他的公平正义论,使得契约精神在当代复兴。

Contract spirit is condensed by a series of principle and norms at a certain degree of commodity economy. From the political view, it is mainly made of spirit of freedom, equality, rights. Hobbes, Locke and Rousseau applied contract spirit in economy to politics and put forward social contract theory; later, social contract theory was challenged by utilitarianism and Hegel. In the last century, Rawls criticized utilitarianism and put forward his theory of justice as equality, renewing social contract spirit in the present.