霍布斯政治哲学中的国家与人——兼论斯金纳与朗西曼之争

The state and the person in Hobbes' s political philosophy in the perspective of Skinner- Runciman debate

霍布斯在其政治哲学著作中多次表达了国家是人的看法,同时霍布斯对人的定义又非常复杂,这导致学术界对霍布斯的思想中国家到底是什么样的人这一问题产生了不少争论。斯金纳把国家理解成纯粹虚拟人,朗西曼则把国家理解成虚造的人,他们的理解既不符合霍布斯的文本表达,也不符合霍布斯在政治思想史上的定位。相比之下,如果我们把霍布斯的国家理解成比喻意义上的自然人,应该更加合理。

Hobbes points out many times in the works of his political philosophy that the state is a person. His definition of the person is also very complicated,so quite a few scholars have controversies over the personhood of Hobbes' s state. Quentin Skinner understands Hobbes' s state as purely artificial person,while Runciman argues that it is best understood as fictional person. Their views have no echoes from Hobbes' s textual evidence,because they misunderstand the role of Hobbes in the history of politics and ideology. Thus,it will be more reasonable to regard Hobbes' s state metaphorically as a natural person.