肯定前的否定——柏拉图、亚里士多德与西塞罗民主思想辨析

Negation before the Acceptation——The Discussion of Democracy by Plato,Aristotle and Cicero

在政治学界,自民主诞生之日起,伴随而来的就是不断的质疑与猛烈的攻击。换而言之,在民主得到肯定之前,它经历了漫长的否定历程,特别是在民主的源头——古希腊与古罗马时代,而柏拉图、亚里士多德和西塞罗就是这种否定观点的代表者,他们在对民主的认识与批判上有着极为相似的一致性,这些共同构成了肯定前的否定。与此同时,他们也用短小的篇幅与微弱的语言给予了民主一定的承认,即"否定中肯定",而这些否定与肯定恰恰构成了现今民主的基石。

In politics,since the birth of democracy,it had been accompanied by continuous doubts and fierce attack.In other words,democracy experienced a long history of negation before it was accepted by human beings,especially in the period of ancient Greece and Roma.While Plato,Aristotle and Cicero are the representatives of those who take negative view,they have a similar opinion on the understanding and criticism of the democracy,which make up of the negation before the acceptation.At the same time,they admitted the function of democracy with a few words,which is the acceptation in the negation.Both the acceptation and the negation made up of the basis of the modern democracy.