潘恩政治伦理思想新探

New Interpretation to Thomas Paine’s Political and Ethics Thoughts

作为十八、十九世纪著名的政治活动家,潘恩的文章和论著往往是针对一些现实的政治问题或应论战而发,因此其论述领域较广,显得相对庞杂而缺乏系统,举凡宗教、人权、民族独立、政治体制等方面,潘恩均有涉猎和灼见。但作为政治家、思想家,潘恩的思想还是有一条贯穿始终的主线,那就是政治伦理,并形成其独特的政治伦理思想体系。概言之,潘恩的政治伦理思想体系主要涵盖了本体论、人权论、政府论等重要组成部分。其中,潘恩的本体论是以自然神论为主,同时闪烁着无神论的光芒;潘恩的人权论是建立在天赋人权、平等自由基础上,主张幸福平等;其政府论是建立在社会契约基础上,理想政府是代议制和民主制相结合的共和政体。在潘恩的政治伦理思想体系中,如果说本体论是其政治伦理思想的理论基础,人权论则是政治伦理思想的核心要义,政府论就是落实人权这一核心要义的根本保障。

As a famous political activist in 18 th and 19 th century,Thomas Paine’s essays and ideas cover a wide but unsystematic range in response to the realistic and social issues concerning religion,human rights,national independence and political system.The present paper focuses on Paine’s political and ethics thoughts.As a radical bourgeois political ideologist,Paine’s thought of political ethics includes the theory of ontology,human natures and government.The theory of ontology embodied the ideals of deism and atheism.The thought of human natures was constructed on natural right and civil right.The idea of government was established on the representative democracy theory.