两种政治审慎与政治话语的古今之变

A historical account of two kinds of political prudence and political discourse:Differences between Aristotle and Machiavelli

审慎是对人应该如何生活的思考,但这种思考在思想史上有两种差异甚大的方式,并由此带来了政治话语的古今之变。亚里士多德的审慎,它要求人们结合一个总体的根本善去把握具体情境中的善,而一个人的本性只能够在一个有法律和正义的城邦(政治)得以实现,这意味着只有在伦理与政治统一的世界里,这种审慎才是可能的。但马基雅维里诉诸"命运"概念,强调政治世界的偶然性与冲突,割裂政治世界与自然目的之间的关联,政治审慎由此转向了政治领域的自身逻辑,关注现实世界中的"有效真理",以国家的需要而不是善的理念或永恒原则去指导政治行动。

Prudence is a reflection on the ways of life, which finds full expression in the differences between Aristotle and Machia- velli and leads to the changes in the political discourse. The former＇s prudence requires people to understand a specific goodness within the context of an ultimate goodness. Because the nature of a human being could be realized only in a state （politics） ruled by law and justice, it means that prudence could be possible only in a world integrating ethics with politics. The latter＇s prudence, which is based on the concept of ＂fate＂, emphasizes the contingency and conflicts, and separates the political world from the natu- ral goal ; thus, political prudence turns to the self logic of the political domain, shows concern over the ＂effective truth＂ in real- ity, and follows the state＇s needs rather than the concept of goodness or eternal principles for political actions.