History of Political Ideas (Volume 6)

出版者:University of Missouri Press

作者:Eric Voegelin

页数:227pages

出版时间:December 1998

价格:$39.95

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9780826212009

具体描述

Volume VI of Voegelin's account of the history of Western political ideas continues from the point reached in the previous volume with the study of the mystic-philosopher Jean Bodin. Voegelin begins with a discussion of the conflict between Bishop Bossuet and Voltaire concerning the relationship between what is conventionally identified as sacred history and profane history. Bossuet maintained the traditional Christian position, the origin of which may be traced to Saint Augustine's City of God. Voegelin shows, however, that while Bossuet may have been heir to an adequate understanding of human existence, Voltaire drew attention to a series of historical facts, such as the comparative size of the Russian and Roman empires, the existence of Chinese civilization, and the discovery of the New World, that could be incorporated into Bossuet's account only with great difficulty or not at all.

For the first time, the theoretical problem of the historicity of evocative symbols of political order becomes the focus of Voegelin's analysis. This major problem, which found a provisional solution in the New Science of Vico, was intertwined with several additional ones that may be summarized in terms of an increasing closure toward what Voegelin calls the world- transcendent ground of reality. Voegelin traces the consequences of the new attitudes and sentiments in terms of an increasing disorientation in personal, social, and political life, a disorientation that was expressed in increasingly impoverished experiences and accounts of history and of nature.

Vico represents the great exception to this decline in the intellectual adequacy of modern political ideas and modern self- understanding. Readers familiar with Voegelin's New Science of Politics will find in the long, challenging, and brilliant chapter on Vico and his New Science one of the major textual analyses that sustained Voegelin's entire intellectual enterprise. Indeed, the chapter on Vico, along with similarly provocative and insightful chapters on Bodin and on Schelling in other volumes, may almost be read as an element of Voegelin's own spiritual autobiography.

作者简介

About the Author

Eric Voegelin (1901-1985) was one of the most original and influential philosophers of our time. Born in Cologne, Germany, he studied at the University of Vienna, where he became a professor of political science in the Faculty of Law. In 1938, he and his wife, fleeing Hitler, emigrated to the United States. They became American citizens in 1944. Voegelin spent much of his career at Louisiana State University, the University of Munich, and the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. During his lifetime he published many books and more than one hundred articles. The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin will make available in a uniform edition all of Voegelin's major writings.

About the Editor

Barry Cooper is Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including The Collected Works of Eric Voegelin, Volume 1, On the Form of the American Mind.

目录信息

Editor's Introduction I
Part Six. Revolution
1. Apostasy 31
§1. The Rearticulation of the Christian Era 31
§2. Bossuet and Voltaire 34
a. Bossuet's Universal History
b. Secularized History
c. The Relevance of Rome
d. Voltaire's Universal History
§3. The Reconstruction of Historical Meaning 40
The Esprit Humain as the Object of History
b. Intramundane Sacred History
c. The Structure of Intramundane History
§4. The Continuity of Christian with Intramundane Problems 44
a. The Variations of Intramundane History
b. Bossuet's Histoire des variations des Églises protestantes
c. The Libre Examen
d. Bossuet's Conférence avec M. Claude
§5. The Dynamics of Secularization 51
a. The Dissociation of the Western Universalisms
b. The Phases of Dissociation
c. First and Second Phases: Spiritual Destruction and Respiritualization
d. Third Phase: The Authority of the Church and the Christian Symbols
§6. Voltaire's Attack 57
a. The Éléments de philosophie de Newton
b. God and the Soul
c. The Foundation of Ethics
d. The Meaning of Reason
e. Philosophical Sectarianism
f. The Realm between the Spirits
g. Compassion
2. The Schismatic Nations 71
§1. The Vacuum of Reason 71
§2. The Irritation of Parochialism 72
§3. The Schismatic Cosmion 73
a. The Spiritual Closure of the National Cosmion
b. The French Case
c. The English Case
d. The German Case
§4. The Time Structure of the Closing Process 78
a. The Problem of Closure
b. The English-French Time Structure
c. The French-German Time Structure
d. The Results
3. Giambattista Vico-- La scienza nuova 82
§1. Italian Politics 82
a. City-State and National State
b. Italian "Decadence"
c. Municipalization and Emigration
§2. The Work of Vico 85
a. Style and Mode Expression
b. The Secularist Interpretation
c. The Meditative Character of the Work
d. The Phases of the Meditation
§3. The Idea of a New Science 93
a. Ambivalence and Pathos
b. Reversal of the Apostatic Movement
§4. The Steps of the Meditation 96
a. Verum Est Factum
b. The Philological Origin
c. The Conjecture on the Pagan Level
d. The Christian Level
e. Neoplatonism
§5. The Continuum of Western Ideas 102
§6. The Model of Nature 104
a. The Metaphysical Point and the Conatus
b. The Systematic Function of the Model
c. The Attack on Phenomenalism
d. The Attack on the Cogito
e. The Transfer of the Model to History
§7. The Mondo Civile 109
a. The Science of History
b. Vico's Anthropology
c. The Autonomy of the Spirit
d. The Recursus
§8. Recursus and Ricorso 116
a. The Problem in the Diritto universale
b. The Problem in the "First" Scienza nuova
c. The Problem in the "Third" Scienza nuova
d. Vico and Saint Augustine
§9. The Storia Eterna Ideale
a. Formulation of the Principle
b. The Historicity of the Mind
c. Providential contemplation
126
§10. The Senso Commune 132
a. Positive Definitions
b. Critical Clarification
c. History and Philosophy of Humanity
§11. The Political Structure of the Corso 137
a. Stato Ferino and Divine Age
b. The Heroic Age
c. The Human Age
d. Summarizing Characterization of the Corso
e. The Mente Eroica
§12. Conclusion 144
4. The English Quest for the Concrete 149
§1. The Model Polity 150
a. A Stagnant Population
b. Gin
c. The Purge of the Church
d. Warburton's Political Sermons
e. The Gladstone-Newman Controversy
§2. The Loss of the Concrete 163
a. Materialization of the External World
b. Psychologization of the Self
c. Culverwel's Reason
d. Whichcote's Reason
e. Locke's Reason
f. Locke's Reasonableness of Christianity
Toland's Christianity Not Mysterious
§3. Absolute Space and Relativity 183
a. Relativity from Copernicus to Leibnitz
b. Galileo's Conflict with the Inquisition
c. Newton's Assumption of Absolute Space
d. The Influence of Henry More
e. Berkeley's Psychological Criticism
f. The Deadlock
g. Leibniz
h. The Problem of the Rotating Star
i Science, Power, and Magic
j. The Pathos of Science and Spiritual Eunuchs
Index 217
· · · · · · (收起)

读后感

维柯（1668 – 1744）被称为“有史以来西方思想史上最为神秘的哲人（the most enigmatic philosopher）”。[1]童年的维柯特别淘气，据他亲撰的《维柯自传》记述，7岁时，他意外地从楼顶摔下来，差点丢了命。休养整整三年后，淘气的维柯在学习上开了窍，一路名列前茅，提前进入...

维柯（1668 – 1744）被称为“有史以来西方思想史上最为神秘的哲人（the most enigmatic philosopher）”。[1]童年的维柯特别淘气，据他亲撰的《维柯自传》记述，7岁时，他意外地从楼顶摔下来，差点丢了命。休养整整三年后，淘气的维柯在学习上开了窍，一路名列前茅，提前进入...

维柯（1668 – 1744）被称为“有史以来西方思想史上最为神秘的哲人（the most enigmatic philosopher）”。[1]童年的维柯特别淘气，据他亲撰的《维柯自传》记述，7岁时，他意外地从楼顶摔下来，差点丢了命。休养整整三年后，淘气的维柯在学习上开了窍，一路名列前茅，提前进入...

维柯（1668 – 1744）被称为“有史以来西方思想史上最为神秘的哲人（the most enigmatic philosopher）”。[1]童年的维柯特别淘气，据他亲撰的《维柯自传》记述，7岁时，他意外地从楼顶摔下来，差点丢了命。休养整整三年后，淘气的维柯在学习上开了窍，一路名列前茅，提前进入...

维柯（1668 – 1744）被称为“有史以来西方思想史上最为神秘的哲人（the most enigmatic philosopher）”。[1]童年的维柯特别淘气，据他亲撰的《维柯自传》记述，7岁时，他意外地从楼顶摔下来，差点丢了命。休养整整三年后，淘气的维柯在学习上开了窍，一路名列前茅，提前进入...

用户评价

这是一部充满野心且执行力极强的学术作品。它的叙事节奏把握得非常到位，不会让人因为内容过于厚重而产生疲劳感。作者似乎深谙，要驾驭如此庞大的思想史，必须要有明确的锚点和清晰的脉络划分。在章节之间，那种承上启下的过渡性论述做得非常流畅自然，仿佛是精心编排的交响乐，高潮迭起，张弛有度。我尤其赞赏作者在处理那些“被遗忘的思想家”时的公正态度。很多在主流叙事中被边缘化的人物，在这里得到了应有的学术尊重和深入分析，他们的贡献被重新放置在了与其重要性相匹配的历史位置上。这不仅仅是历史的还原，更是一种对思想史的重新校准。对于任何想要严肃探讨政治哲学基础的人来说，这本书提供了一个近乎百科全书式的、结构严谨的参考框架。它带来的不仅是知识的增加，更重要的是思维框架的重塑，让你明白，我们今天所争论的一切，大多都可以在这些深埋的古老思想土壤中找到源头。

老实说，我是在极大的期待和一丝丝的畏惧中开始阅读这本厚重的卷宗的。它与其说是一本书，不如说是一部思想的考古发掘报告。不同于那些只关注“英雄人物”的传记式叙事，作者的笔触如同显微镜下的解剖刀，深入到构成社会肌体的那些底层观念的细微结构中。我花了很长时间才适应作者那种略显繁复但极具穿透力的论证方式，它要求读者不仅要记住历史事实，更要理解这些事实背后的形而上学基础。读到某一章节时，我差点因为一个晦涩的术语概念卡住，但经过反复咀嚼，那种豁然开朗的感觉，简直是智识上的极大满足。这本书的排版和注释系统也值得称赞，它们虽然密集，但逻辑性极强，为深入研究提供了坚实的基础。它不是那种能让你在通勤路上随便翻阅的“爽文”，它需要你准备一张笔记纸和一支笔，随时准备记录下那些可能颠覆你原有认知的瞬间。这是一次对西方（或特定区域）政治思维源头的溯源之旅，严谨到近乎偏执。

初接触这类学术巨著时，最大的障碍往往是语言和术语的隔阂感。然而，作者在这方面采取了一种非常克制的策略。他没有刻意用晦涩的词汇来炫耀学问，而是在确保概念精确性的前提下，努力构建一个清晰的叙事框架。尤其是在处理跨文化、跨时代的思想传递和异化问题时，作者表现出了极高的敏感性。比如，某个源自古代城邦的激进民主理念，在经过中世纪的神学滤镜，再到近代启蒙运动的重塑后，其核心精神究竟保留了多少？作者用大量的篇幅来追踪这些“思想的基因突变”，这种精细的追溯，让我对“观念的生命力”有了全新的认识。这本书的阅读体验，更像是在参与一场跨越千年的哲学辩论，你仿佛能听到柏拉图和马基雅维利在不同的历史舞台上，就同一个永恒的主题进行着激烈的交锋。这是一本值得反复精读的书，因为每一次重读，都可能因为自身阅历的增长，而解锁新的层次和理解角度。

这部看似深奥的著作，初翻阅时便有一种扑面而来的学术气息，让人不禁对作者驾驭宏大历史叙事的功力感到敬畏。它不像是一本轻松的读物，更像是一场需要全神贯注的智力马拉松。尤其是在对特定历史时期政治思想流变的处理上，作者展现了惊人的细致与耐心。例如，对于某个关键哲学流派在不同地理区域的演变路径的梳理，简直是一幅错综复杂的思想地图，每一个分支的兴衰更替都被描绘得淋漓尽致。我特别欣赏它在引用一手文献时的审慎态度，那些古老的文本片段被恰当地嵌入论证之中，使得抽象的概念瞬间获得了鲜活的时代背景和语境。尽管篇幅浩瀚，但作者似乎总能找到一个巧妙的切入点，将复杂的历史脉络梳理得清晰可见，让人在迷宫中找到了清晰的指引线索。它强迫读者跳出当下的思维定式，去理解那些在截然不同的社会结构下所产生的、看似匪夷所思却又逻辑自洽的政治观念。这本书的价值，或许并不在于提供标准答案，而在于它教会你如何去提问，如何去质疑那些被我们奉为圭臬的既定“真理”。

这本书的魅力在于其宏大的视野和精妙的局部刻画之间的完美平衡。很多历史作品要么过于宏观，导致细节失真；要么过于微观，只见树木不见森林。但这部作品，却像一位技艺高超的建筑大师，既能描绘出整座思想殿堂的宏伟蓝图，又能清晰地指出每一块砖石的材质和雕刻细节。我个人对其中关于早期共和国理论与后期帝国扩张之间如何进行自我辩护和思想调适那一段描述印象尤深。作者没有简单地将这种转变归咎于权力的腐蚀，而是细致地剖析了内部思想张力的演变——哪些旧的道德约束被新的实用主义逻辑所取代，取代的过程又经历了哪些思想家的艰难论证。这种深挖思想内在逻辑矛盾的能力，使得本书远超一般教科书的范畴。它提供的不是知识的堆砌，而是理解历史动态演变过程的方法论指导。读完之后，再看现代政治新闻，总感觉能穿透表面的喧嚣，看到那些隐藏在幕后的，古老而持久的思维惯性。