贡斯当对法国大革命的自由主义反思

Benjamin Constant’s Liberal Reflections on French Revolution

贡斯当以法国大革命所引发的现代政治哲学理论与实践问题为思考对象,以卢梭政治哲学为批判对象,以英国政治文化与制度为参考,充分阐发了激进自由主义与保守主义相妥协的自由主义政治哲学思想,仍有一些可供批判吸收的现代民主政治智慧光芒。他把政治自由与个人自由的矛盾关系难题转换为古代人自由与现代人自由的矛盾关系问题,阐发了时间与空间两种妥协的解决方式及其背后的政治参与、商业财富与时间等理由。由此两种自由的观念出发,他批判卢梭的人民主权原则,提出要以真正的代议制民主与权力制衡原则来改进现代民主政治,实现资产阶级政治自由的理想。进而,他批判拿破仑专制政治、大革命恐怖政治及其所诱发的现代战争灾难,阐发温和的自由主义社会变革之道。

As the object of thinking of modern political philosophy’s theory and practice caused by the French Revolution,taking Rousseau’s political philosophy as the object of debate,and taking the British political culture and system as a reference,Benjamin Constant fully elucidates the liberal political philosophy which was compromised by radical liberalism and conservatism,and still glittering some licenses for approval.The light of wisdom of modern democratic politics is to be absorbed.He converts the contradiction between political freedom and personal freedom into the contradiction between the freedom of the ancient man and the modern man,and explains the two ways of compromise in time and space and the reasons for the political participation,the commercial wealth and the time.From these two ideas of freedom,he criticizes Rousseau’s principle of people’s sovereignty,and put forward the ideal of improving modern democracy and realizing bourgeois political freedom by the principle of genuine representative democracy and power balance.Furthermore,he criticizes Napoleon’s autocratic politics,the horror politics of the French revolution and the modern war disaster induced,and explains the way of the moderate liberal social change.