从国家立法到社会合作——英国近代早期乌托邦思想的转轨

From National Legislation to Social Cooperation ——The Transformation of Utopian Thoughtsin Early Modern England

在近代早期,英国思想家为实现理想社会提出了诸多方案,乌托邦是其中重要的组成。17世纪中期以前,乌托邦思想家将改革的希望寄托于君主与议会,试图以立法的方式革故鼎新;17世纪后期,乌托邦构想中出现了一种新趋势,即不寻求国家层面的改革,也不幻想将一国建成理想社会,转而提出通过社会合作的方式建立“小共同体”,并以其作为示范,逐步实现理想社会。这一模式以较强的实践性,成为后世乌托邦运动的主要参照。这一转变的出现,与17世纪后期英国的政治经济形势有关,更受新兴的股份制公司的启发。

In the early modern period,English thinkers conceived various forms of ideal societies,of which utopia is an important example.Before the mid-17th century,utopian thinkers placed the hope of reform on monarch and parliament,attempting to realize their conceptions in a legislative way;in the late 17th century,the utopian movement took a remarkable turn.Utopian thinkers gave up reform at the national level.That is to say,they no longer dreamed of transforming their country straight into an ideal society.Instead,they proposed to establish a "little commonwealth" through social cooperation,and used it as a model to extend their utopian practice step by step.This model,with its stronger applicability,has become the main reference for the later utopian movements.This thesis argues that this transformation results from the political and economic context in England in the late 17th century,and is especially inspired by the rise of the joint-stock company.