英国近代自由主义的济贫法批判

Poor Law Critiques of British Modern Liberalism

本文在介绍济贫法与工业革命历程的基础上,阐述了英国四位自由主义思想家对于济贫法的批判思想。亚当.斯密认为济贫法阻碍了劳动力和资本的自由流动;在马尔萨斯看来,人为的济贫法干扰了大自然的人口抑制法则;斯宾塞则指出,济贫法不仅扰乱了优胜劣汰的进化法则,而且扼杀了人类的美好天性;霍布豪斯赞同社会救助,但认为传统的济贫法不足以促进个人自立与发展。最后,笔者提出,自由主义济贫法批判思想具有体现并满足近代资产阶级需要的双重功效,但是这种批判不足以掩盖济贫法制度的正向功能。

On the basis of the introduction of the poor laws and the course of the industrial revolution,this paper elaborates the four British liberal thinkers＇ critical thoughts on the poor laws. Adam Smith believed that the poor laws impeded the free movement of labor and capital; in Malthus＇s view,the man-made poor law interfered with the population suppression law from the nature; Spencer pointed out that the poor law not only disrupted the evolutionary rules of ＂survival of the fittest＂,but also stifled the beautiful natures of human; Hobhouse agreed with the social assistance,but felt that the traditional poor law was not sufficient to promote individual self-reliance and development. Finally,the author suggested that the ideological critiques of liberalism on the poor laws had reflected and met the needs of the modern bourgeois and these critiques were not enough to cover up the positive features of the poor law system.