从“荣誉之爱”到“权力欲”:奥古斯丁论罗马公民伦理与政治的无根基性

From “Love of Glory” to “Desire for Power”:Augustine on the Groundlessness of Roman Civic Ethics and Politics

奥古斯丁在《上帝之城》中对罗马公民伦理和政治的态度非常地复杂,他一方面揭露了罗马人在内战和扩张中犯下的罪行,另一方面又肯定了他们为国献身的美德。鉴于奥古斯丁的这一矛盾态度,一些研究者认为他笔下的罗马是一个悬于上帝之城和地上之城之间的非善非恶的政治空间。然而,这一深受政治自由主义影响的经典解读,近几十年却遭到了严厉的批评,批评者们不仅从总体上拒绝对政治领域的世俗主义理解,而且特别反对把罗马的形象进行中性化处理。本文基本赞同第二派学者的观点,但会通过一种新的视角和方法来展开论证。具体地说,本文将直接切入罗马公民德性的核心原则,切入罗马人在公共领域行动的终极动力,对《上帝之城》第五卷的“荣誉之爱”概念展开一种“个案分析”,通过探索该卷关于荣誉之爱的不同甚至相反的论述之间的逻辑关联,重构出这种爱是如何从自身内部产生出一种辩证运动,由原本维护公民德性的积极力量,一步步地“自我解构”为作为德性之最大破坏者的“权力欲”的。而通过对这一“堕落的辩证法”的全程重构,本文亦将揭示出在奥古斯丁眼中,以罗马为代表的古典国家的伦理与政治,在终极层面上的无根基性。

Augustine’s attitude towards the civil ethics and the politics of Rome in The City of God is highly complicated. On the one hand, he criticizes the crimes committed by the Romans in civil wars and imperial expansions, whereas on the other hand, he praises the virtues of the Romans in sacrificing their lives for the sake of their national interest. Considering this ambivalent attitude, some scholars hold that Rome constitutes a neither-good-nor-evil political area for Augustine, hanging between the heavenly city and the earthly city. However, this so-called classical interpretation, which is deeply shaped by political liberalism, gets harshly attacked in recent decades, and their critics not only reject a secularist understanding of the political area in general, but also contest a neutralization of the image of Rome in particular. The author of this article basically agrees with the second camp of scholars, but will reach the conclusion from a new perspective and through a new method. More specifically speaking, I will directly pinpoint the central principle of the Roman civil virtues and the ultimate motivation for the Romans to participate in public affairs, offering a case-study of the concept of “love of glory” in Volume Five of The City of God. By exploring the logical connections among Augustine’s distinct or even conflicting descriptions of “love of glory” in this volume, I will reconstruct a dialectical movement from within this love, i.e., a movement that drives this prima facie positive force(which promotes civil virtues at the very beginning) to deconstruct itself step by step and degenerate into “desire for power”(which is the arch-enemy of all virtues) in the end. Furthermore, through this complete reconstruction of “a dialectic of degeneration”, I will disclose Augustine’s keen insight into the ultimate groundlessness within the ethics and politics of all ancient states with Rome as their most typical representative.