改良社会:约翰·密尔对社会主义思想关切的演变

Improving the Society:The Evolution of John Stuart Mill's Concerns with Socialist Thought

19世纪自由主义思想家约翰·密尔曾多次对社会主义学说予以评论,甚至自称为“社会主义者”,其相左的身份认知在学界长期存在争议。要对此做出解释,则需仔细考察密尔对社会主义思想关切的演变全程。从19世纪20年代的初次辩论交锋,到1848年对合作经营制度的高度赞许,直至60年代末重申社会主义思潮的局限性,密尔思想的转变植根于变动的社会现实与扩大的智识圈。密尔思想理路的波动证明其并未局限于“社会主义”的既定框架,他真正关心的是社会的改革。密尔评估分配制度、土地改革、合作经营等举措,意在使未来社会达致平等、公平与正义。

Scholars have long discussed the contradictory identity held by the nineteenth-century liberal thinker John Stuart Mill,who openly called himself aa“socialist”and frequently remarked on socialist theories.To explain the gap,it's necessary to scrutinize the evolution of Mill's socialist concerns.Mill's change was based on the evolving socioeconomic realities and the growing intellectual community,as seen in his early debates in the 1820s,his strong support of the cooperative system in 1848,and his reiteration of the limitations of socialist thinking in the late 1860s.The fluctuations in Mill's ideas demonstrated that he was not limited to the concept of"socialism"and that social reform was his real interest.Mill's evaluation of measures like cooperative management,land reform,and distribution improvement aimed to establish equity,justice,and fairness in the future society。