绝对主义:一个历史概念的名与实

Absolutism: Name and Reality of a Historical Concept

对绝对主义概念的思考应放在近代早期欧洲的政治语境中。在这个时代的法国,君主绝对权力说的阐发,意在克服君主制的危机、巩固国家统一,增强君主的地位和主动性以实现更高层次的目标,因此绝对君主制从其源头上是有限度和条件的,它不等同于被目为非法的专制主义。19世纪的历史学曾高度评价绝对君主制在塑造现代政治生活和民族国家中的主导作用,但今天的研究者认为绝对主义在近代早期有一个兴起、巩固和衰落的过程。法国的绝对主义起初的目标是巩固既有的社会-法律基础,但当它的抱负日益增长时,便对后者构成威胁,并由此产生一系列的冲突,导致了它的衰败。绝对主义的政治逻辑只有在废除其社会-法律基础之后才得以延续。

The historical concept Absolutism should be considered in the political context of early modern Europe.In early modern France,the elaboration of absolutism theory was intended to overcome crises of monarchy,to unify the divided country,and the strengthening the independence of prince and his initiatives should contribute to achievement of aims of higher level.So absolute monarchy has its limits and preconditions from its beginning,and it is not synonym of despotism which is regarded as illegitimate.The historiography of nineteenth-century evaluated highly the key role played by absolute monarchy in the formation of modern politics and nation-state.Nowadays historians think that absolutism underwent a process including rising,consolidation and decline.In France,the absolutism theory firstly aimed at preserving socio-judicial conditions which fell in crisis.But when its ambition increasingly grew,absolutism began to impose its will on the traditional socio-judicial conditions,and this resulted in a series conflicts leading to the abolishment of these conditions by which,paradoxically,the political logic could continue.