科学革命对17世纪自然法观念转变的影响

The Influence of Scientific Revolution on the Change of Natural Law in the 17th Century

思想史上一般认为,从古希腊起源的自然法学说在近代初期发生了明显的转折。本文考察17世纪自然法观念的转变与同时期科学革命之间的联系。在阐明有关人的道德秩序的自然法学说与关于外部世界秩序的自然观之间同构关系的基础上,从两方面分析科学革命和近代自然观对自然法观念所带来的影响。一是自然法学说背后的本体论界定,尤其是“自然主义”的人学理论和机械论下的自由观念对自然法进路和功能的影响;二是自然法学说的认识论对自然科学方法的模仿。本文以托马斯·阿奎那、霍布斯、洛克的自然法理论为中心,分析影响的具体理路。

In the history of thought,it is generally believed that the theory of natural law with a long history from ancient Greece had an obvious turning point in the early modern times.This paper investigates the relationship between the change of the concept of natural law in the 17th century and the scientific revolution of the same period.On the basis of clarifying the isomorphic relationship between the natural law theory about human moral order and the view of nature about external world order,this paper aims to explain the influence of the scientific revolution and modern view of nature on the concept of natural law from two aspects.First,it analyzes the ontological definition behind the theory of natural law,especially how the"naturalistic"humanistic theory and the concept of freedom under the mechanical determinism affect the approach and function of natural law.Second,it analyzes how the theory of natural law imitates the methods of natural science in epistemology.Based on the natural law theory of Thomas Aquinas,Hobbes and Locke,this paper explicates the concrete way of this influence.