从东方学史看“东方专制主义”论与东方国家政治特殊论

A Critical Study of Oriental Despotism and Political Particularism in Oriental Countries

在采用马克思的政治经济学概念对东方国家政治属性的论述中,卡尔·魏特夫的《东方专制主义》和佩里·安德森的《绝对主义国家的系谱》颇有代表性,他们都用马克思恩格斯所使用的"东方专制主义""绝对主义""亚细亚生产方式"等基本概念来论述东方国家的政治并对东西方进行比较研究,但魏特夫的"东方专制主义"论带有冷战时代鲜明的政治指涉,而安德森对西方从"封建主义"社会发展到"绝对主义"国家的分析描述,意在凸显西方社会从"封建主义"发展到"绝对主义"的独特性,并在此前提下对"亚细亚生产方式"论做了反思分析。魏特夫与安德森都从不同角度认同并强调了东方国家的"专制主义"政治属性,都是"西方"特殊论与"东方"特殊论者。我们有必要从西方的东方学思想史的角度,对此加以分析与批判。

Among the scholars and works that adopt Marx’s concept of Political Economy to discuss the political nature of eastern countries, Karl Wittfogel’s Oriental Despotism and Perry Anderson’s Lineages of the Absolutist State are quite representative. They both adopt the basic concepts of Oriental Despotism, Absolutism and Asiatic Mode of Production used by Marx and Engels to discuss the politics of eastern countries and make a comparative study of the East and the West. Wittfogel’s Oriental Despotism Theory has a clear political reference in the Cold War era, while Anderson’s analysis and description of western countries from Feudalism to Absolutism are intended to highlight the uniqueness of western society from Feudalism to Absolutism, which reflects and analyzes the theory of Asiatic mode of production. Wittfogel and Perry Anderson both recognize and emphasize the political attribute of Absolutism in eastern countries from different angles and they are both Eastern Particularism and Western Particularism. Therefore, it is necessary for us to analyze and criticize them from the stand point of intellectual history and from the perspective of Oriental Studies in the West.