论近代西方哲学与历史中的种族契约——以洛克与康德为例

On the Racial Contract in Modern Western Philosophy and History: A Case Study of John Locke and Immanuel Kant

洛克与康德,分别代表近代西方思想史上社会契约论与平等主义的高峰,但他们却分别以行为或理论书写了另一类契约:以人与人的不平等为前提的种族契约。洛克曾经深深卷入北美殖民地奴隶制事务、投资大西洋奴隶贸易。康德则以其自然科学家的思维构建了近代科学种族主义的概念框架。二人都在坚持人人生而平等且自由的同时,将黑人与印第安人降在与白人不能齐平的台阶上。这种由思想家所不加掩饰的种族等级观,反映出近代西方哲学对种族间正义的冷漠,也暴露出启蒙时代的重大缺陷。

John Locke and Immanuel Kant respectively represented the summits of Social Contract Theory and Equalitarianism in the history of Western philosophy.However,they wrote a different kind of contract by their actions or theories,namely a racial contract based on inequality between races.Locke once got deeply involved in the affairs of slavery in the North American colonies and had his money invested in the trans-Atlantic slave trade.As a natural scientist,Kant set up a basic concept of race for scientific racism developed during the nineteenth century.They both degraded the Black and American Indians on the social ladder lower than the White,while championing the idea of every one born equal and free.This naked hierarchical view on races shown by these so-called great thinkers revealed the existence of apathy about racial justice in the tradition of Western philosophy,as well as a great limitation in the Age of Enlightenment.