“立法者并不总是法则的创作者”——对康德一个晦涩命题的三种理解

“The Lawgiver is Not Always the Author of the Law”——Analysis on Three Interpretations of an Obscure Proposition of Kant

“立法者是根据法则的责任的创作者,但并不总是法则的创作者”,这是康德在《道德形而上学》导论中提出的一个晦涩命题,学者们作出了很不相同的理解。埃里克·沃特金斯认为,康德主张上帝和人既是立法者,又是法则的创作者。这种理解是对康德命题的明显误解,没有看出康德明确否定了上帝这位立法者同时是法则的创作者。刘凤娟认为,康德主张上帝和人的立法理性作为立法者并非法则的创作者,惟有执行理性的唯一立法、在特定情境中创作具体法则的自由意志(任意)才是法则的创作者。这种理解在很大程度上改变了康德命题的本来含义,没有看出康德命题主要是针对上帝这一立法者而提出来的,因而改变了在上帝的意志与人的理性之间的对比框架,在立法理性与执法意志的对比框架中把执行理性立法的意志当作法则的创作者。康德这一命题的本来含义应是,上帝这个立法者并非法则的创作者,我们自己的立法理性才是法则的创作者。这样理解,可以得到康德大量同主题文本的支持。康德把上帝视为立法者,表明他的立法者概念需要在其道德宗教中加以理解;他把我们自己的立法理性视为法则的创作者,则表明他在法则的创作者问题上坚持了启蒙思想原则。

The claim that the lawgiver is the author of responsibility,but not always the author of law is an obscure proposition put forward by Kant in the introduction to Moral Metaphysics.According to Eric Watkins,Kant holds that God and human are both lawgivers and authors of the law.This understanding is an obvious misunderstanding of Kant's proposition,and it is not clear that Kant explicitly denied that God,a lawgiver,is also the authors of the law.Liu Fengjuan believes that Kant holds that the lawgiving reason of God and human as the lawgiver is not the author of the law,but the free will(whim)that executes the sole lawgiving of reason and creates the concrete law in a specific situation is the author of the law.This understanding changes the original meaning of Kant's proposition to a great extent,and fails to see that Kant's proposition is primarily directed towards God,the lawgiver,and thus changes the framework of the contrast between God's will and human reason,and the will to implement rational legislation is regarded as the author of the law in the comparative framework between the legislating reason and the executing will.The original meaning of Kant's proposition is that God,the lawgiver,is not the author of the law,but our own lawgiving reason is the author of the law.This understanding can be supported by a large number of texts on the same topic by Kant.Kant regards God as a lawgiver,which shows that his concept of lawgiver needs to be understood in his moral religion.He regards our own lawgiving reason as the author of the law,which shows that he adheres to the principle of enlightenment in the question of the author of the law.