“人性宗教”的起源与经过--一个塑造现代社会的过程

The Genesis and Course of “The Religion of Humanity”:A Process of Molding Modern Society

面对中世纪晚期以来宗教和政治的总体性危机,马基雅维利奠基的"公民宗教"提供了一种建立现代秩序的可能性,但它背后所预设的伊壁鸠鲁式的"自然观"并没有为"现代人"的人性与政治建立普遍性的基础。卢梭通过笛卡尔式的"我思"所建立的人性秩序,不仅证成了现代神义论,而且试图构建一种以社会契约为基础的道德共和国。因此,卢梭的"公民宗教"本质上是"人性宗教"。然而卢梭的"人性"宗教所崇拜的并非是人性(humannature)自身,而是人性背后的上帝以及其所"安排"的秩序。"人性"(Humanity)宗教总归要返回到自身,这正是法国大革命后社会理论思潮对卢梭"人性论"的反叛与重新展开,现代社会正是通过这种过渡而形成了自身雏形的同时又面临着进一步的危机。

Facing with the general crisis of politics and region since the late Middle Ages, the ＂Civil Religion＂ formed by Machiavelli provides a possibility to build modern order. But after having destroyed the ＂natural＂ base in the classic sense of cosmology and politics, Machiavelli’s Epicurean view of ＂nature＂ could not set up the universal foundation for the human nature and politics of modern people. Hence, the effort to mold modern society through the secular religion must return to the question of Christianity itself. The developmental course of modern human nature and the genesis of society should be examined with the fundamental propositions in Theodicy and their changes in the modern sense being the main theme. Voluntarism from the late Middle Ages impels individual ＂accidental＂ existence to acquire ontic position, and the Religion of ＂human nature＂ established by Humanists propels the turning of traditional Theodicy to interpreting human spirit and human nature. From this point, real sectarian conflicts and dissociated consciousness since the Reformation implies inherently the foundation of unifying modern human nature. Descartes’ Cogito provides human nature the ＂natural＂ base and stimulates the philosophy of the Enlightenment to develop the human nature universally. Rousseau’s ＂Civil Religion＂ is ＂the Religion of human nature＂ essentially, and it combines with the destructive forces in Revolution. On the ruins of Revolution, the Conservatives try to inlet the transcendental ＂Social＂ to build the sacral order. But Comte relativizes the absolute ＂Social＂ through historical thought. In this way, the analytical object of Comte’ s theory is not human nature, but ＂social ties.＂ The meaning of Humanity from Comte is just the social ties’ self-improving and historical progress. The conflict between ＂politics＂ and ＂society＂ inherent to this ＂Religion of Humanity＂ yet causes predicament of proving the possibility of modern society.