【政治社論】"The Conservative Mind" 簡化版本 - 第二章 24/08/04

 

第二章講解了Edmund Burke，保守主義之父，以及Burke的著作《我對法國大革命的反思》Reflections on the Revolution in France

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p. 3
Reform, then, needed to be cautious, reverent, and prudent, or else it might destroy where it ought to improve.

 

改革需要謹慎、緩慢且審慎，否則可能會在本應進步的地方造成破壞。


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【神的啟示及道德原則】
conservatism on the belief that first principles in the moral sphere come to us through revelation and intuition, not the fanciful speculations of dreamy philosophers.

保守主義認為， first principles in the moral sphere （道德領域的第一原則？）通過神的啟示啟發和直覺來到我們面前，而不是那些華而不實的哲學家的空想。


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【欲了解國家，得先視人類為上帝的造物】

 
p.3-4

According to Burke, if we are to know the state, we must first know the man as a spiritual being. Burke saw society as a creation of Divine providence. God’s will for political man is known “through the prejudices and traditions which millennia of human experience with divine means and judgments have implanted in the mind of the species," and so arrogant faith in frail human reason deserves scorn.

根據伯克的說法，如果我們要了解國家，我們必須先認為人類是spiritual being。伯克將社會視為上帝天意的創造。上帝對政治人的旨意，是通過「數千年人類經驗中以神聖手段和判斷植入人類思想的成見和傳統」而得知的。所以，應該輕蔑那些視人類理性為脆弱之狂妄信念。

p.4
To Burke, it was impious for man to elevate his isolated intellect against the collected wisdom of human history and plan a utopia built to his specifications.

對伯克來說，人類將個體單一的智慧凌駕於人類歷史的集體智慧之上，依據自己的規範去構建一個烏托邦，十分不虔誠。



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【不願意討論第一原則和道德哲學】

 
p.4

Unlike the thinkers of the Enlightenment, Burke was unwilling to dismiss discussions of first principles and moral philosophy. For him, either we are sinful creatures, made by God but fallen, or we are adrift in a moral vacuum, subject to the whims of the strongest.

與啟蒙時代的思想家不同，伯克不願意討頓第一原則和道德哲學。對他來說，我們要麼是由上帝創造但已墮落的罪惡生物，要麼就是漂浮在道德真空中，任由最強者的意志擺布。


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【人對整個人類有義務，源於人與上帝的關係，我們並非有個人意志】

 
The following quotationof Burke’s best sums up his views:

> "the awful Author of our being is the author of our place in the order of existence; and that having disposed and marshalled us by a divine tactic, not according to our will, but according to His, He has, in and by that disposition, virtually subjected us to act the part which belongs to the part assigned to us. We have obligations to mankind at large, which are not in consequence of any special voluntary pact. They arise from the relation of man to man, and the relation of man to God, which relations are not a matter of choice…. When we marry, the choice is voluntary, but the duties are not a matter of choice…The instincts which give rise to this mysterious process of nature are not of our making. But out of physical causes, unknown to us, perhaps unknowable, arise moral duties, which, as we are able perfectly to comprehend, we are bound indispensably to perform."


Burke的摘錄：

> 「我們可敬的造物主是我們在存在秩序中的位置的創造者；祂用神聖的策略將我們安排和引導，不是根據我們的意願，而是根據祂的意志。通過這種安排，祂實際上使我們承擔起屬於我們所分配角色的責任。我們對整個人類有義務，而這不是因為任何特殊的自願契約而產生的。這些義務源於人與人之間的關係以及人與上帝之間的關係，而這些關係並非可以選擇的事....…當我們結婚時，選擇是自願的，但義務卻不是選擇的結果......引發這種自然神秘過程的本能不是我們所能掌控的。然而，從我們未知、甚至可能無法知曉的物理原因中，產生了道德義務。這些道德義務是我們能夠完全理解的，因此我們必須無可置疑地履行。」



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【社會是神聖的，是對前人與未來後代的契約，國家需要教會將職位聖職化】

 
p.4

For him, statesmen were far more than representatives of the people, elected to do their bidding; their tasks are sacred, their offices consecrated to the betterment of future generations and the observance of immortal truth.

對他而言，政治家遠不僅僅是人民的代表，被選舉出來執行他們的託付；他們的任務是神聖的，他們的職位是為了改善子孫後代和遵循永恆真理而被神聖化的。

society was a sacred thing, a tacit agreement between the dead, the living, and the yet unborn, to be protected and nurtured for ends that do not all bring immediate gain.

社會是一個神聖的物體，是死者、在世者和未來未出生者之間的一種默契協議，需要被保護和培育，其目的並不都是為了立即的收益。

The church must consecrate public office and instill veneration for the world as God has given it to us. While the church may not need the state to survive, the state surely needs the church, for, as Kirk put it, “true religion is not merely an expression of national spirit; it rises far superior to earthly law, being, indeed, the source of all law.”

教會必須使公共職務神聖化，並灌輸對上帝賜予我們的世界的敬意。雖然教會不一定需要國家來生存，但國家卻必定需要教會，因為，正如柯克所說，「真正的宗教不僅僅是民族精神的表達；它遠遠超越世俗法律，實際上是所有法律的源泉。」



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【傳統所扮演的角色及重要性】

 
p.5

Burke, had to answer the following questions: What is the foundation of authority in politics? How may men judge the prudence and justice of any particular act? The supernatural realm does not micromanage the routine details of earthly life, so where are men to look for guidance on political judgments? Burke had an answer: the collective wisdom of mankind through millennia of experience and meditation, taught by Providence — in other words, tradition. Man ought to have respect in his everyday decisions for the customs and laws of mankind and apply them with expediency.

慣例在社會秩序的維護中起著重要作用。伯克必須回答以下問題：政治權威的基礎是什麼？人們如何評判某個具體行為的審慎性和正義性？超自然的領域不會詳細管理凡人生活的日常細節，那麼人們應該在哪裡尋求政治判斷的指導呢？伯克的答案是：由天意傳授的人類在數千年經驗和沉思中積累的集體智慧——換句話說，就是傳統。在日常決策中，人們應該尊重人類的慣例和法律，並以權宜之計加以應用。

Burke did not trust reason to keep most men in line, for most men, he suspected, did not employ the rational  faculty at all, and those who tried often did so without sufficient education.

伯克不信任理性能夠使大多數人保持正軌，因為他懷疑大多數人根本不使用理性，而那些嘗試使用理性的人，往往也缺乏足夠的教育。

If men began altering the constitution of their state whenever they wanted, no generation would link with another.

如果人們隨意更改國家的憲法，那麼一代人將無法與另一代人相連接。

Did Burke expect men to resist all temptation to change, then? Far from it — properly guided, change is a process of renewal. Burkean change is a slow, loving process of patching and polishing the old order of things,

保守主義並不是完全拒絕改變。伯克是否期望人們抵抗所有變革的誘惑呢？遠非如此——在適當的指導下，變革是一個更新的過程。伯克所說的變革是一個緩慢而充滿愛意的過程，是對舊有秩序的修補和打磨。


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【論保守主義的人權】

 
Burke rejected the Enlightenment doctrine of the natural rights of man, including Locke’s and Rousseau’ teachings.
伯克拒絕了啟蒙時代關於人類自然權利的學說，包括洛克和盧梭的教義。

Man’s rights had not to do with what was owed him, but rather what man owed his Maker.

人的權利不在於他應得什麼，而在於人對其造物主應承擔什麼義務。

Burke, rejecting the above figures as well as the teachings of Hume and Bentham, instead defined natural right as human custom conforming to divine intent. He denounced the idea of an idyllic, free state of nature, from which man voluntarily came into society, there to critique its laws by the rights he supposedly had beforehand. Neither history nor tradition sustains the idea of a primeval paradise such as the philosophes posited. Instead we must muddle along as best we can, seeking to conform our laws to those of God, recognizing our limitations and respecting the prescriptive rights handed down by our forebears.

伯克拒絕了上述人物以及休謨和邊沁的教義，而是將人權定義為符合上帝意圖的人類傳統。他譴責了哲學家的天賦人權，即人們自願進入社會，並以他們事先擁有的權利來批評社會的法律。歷史和傳統都不支持哲學家們所假設的原始天堂的概念。反之，我們必須盡力而為，努力使我們的法律符合上帝的法則，認識到我們的局限性，尊重我們的祖先所傳承的規範性權利。

We have rights, to be sure, but Burke saw nothing but danger in attempting to judge what he called the chartered rights of civilized men by an abstracted notion of the rights of primitive man.

我們當然擁有權利，但伯克認為，試圖以原始人的權利的抽象概念來評判他所謂的文明人的法定權利，只有危險。

p.6

Social man has given up any claim to absolute autonomy to gain a measure of peace and security; and to the benefits of that society man does have a right, but that right must be define by convention, and by august tradition.

社會中的人已經放棄了對絕對自主的任何要求，以獲得一定程度的和平與安全；而對於這種社會的利益，人確實擁有權利，但這種權利必須由慣例和崇高的傳統來界定。



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【保守主義論平等】

Social and political equality, however, were not among what Burke considered to be man’s real natural rights.

社會和政治平等並不是伯克認為人類真正的天賦人權之一。

Is there a sort of equality with which God has endowed us? Yes, Burke replies, though only one sort: moral
equality. Men are judged fairly by their Creator; no man has more innate value as a human being than any other. As for every other measurement, such as wealth, birth, intelligence, and beauty, we are unequal.

上帝是否賦予了我們某種形式的平等呢？伯克回答說，確實有，但只有一種：道德平等。人們由其造物主公平地評判；沒有任何人作為人類的內在價值高於其他人。至於其他所有的衡量標準，如財富、出身、智慧和美貌，我們都是不平等的。

men have no natural right to majority rule, because not all men are born  qualifications (education, moral nature, tradition, property)

人們沒有天賦人權要求多數決，因為並不是所有人都天生具備（教育、道德素養、傳統、財產）等資格。



“The will of the many, and their interest, must very often differ; and great wil l be the difference when they make an evil choice.”

「多數人的意志與他們的利益往往會有所不同；當他們做出錯誤的選擇時，這種差異會更加明顯。」



The point to learn from Burke is that such wide-spread political power is the result of expediency, not moral argument.

（指目前的成年投票權）從伯克的觀點中可以學到的是，這種廣泛的政治權力是權宜之計的結果，而不是道德辯論的結果。

“political equality is therefore in some sense unnatural, Burke concludes; and aristocracy, on the other hand, is in a certain sense natural."

伯克總結說，「政治平等在某種程度上是不自然的；而貴族制度在某種程度上則是自然的。」



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 【Edmund Burke對於貴族的定義】

 
柏克認為，天意已經賦予這個社會足以產生有能力領導者的貴族階級之材料。柏克尊重出生高貴，然而他對貴族階級有另一番解釋：

p.6-7

出生於高貴的世家；自幼起便不見任何低賤和卑鄙的事物；被教導尊重自己；習慣於接受公眾的監督；早早關注公眾輿論；處於如此寬廣的位置，以便能夠廣泛地觀察大社會中無數的複雜人事；有空閒時間閱讀、反思和交談；無論智慧之人還是滿腹經綸的人身處何處，都能夠吸引到他們的關注，；在追求榮譽和責任方面形成習慣；在一個任何錯誤都會被懲罰的環境中，鍛鍊出最高程度的警覺性、預見性和謹慎性，因為即使是最輕微的錯誤也會帶來最具毀滅性的後果；保護及監督他人，因為被其他公民視為道德的標竿，並且在神與人之間充當調解者；擔任法律和公正的管理者，因此成為人類最早的恩人之一；擔任高等科學的學家，或自由且巧妙的人文藝術學者；在成功的富商中，他們因成功被認為擁有敏銳而強健的理解力，並具備勤勉、秩序、堅定和規律的美德，並對公正交易有習慣性的關注——這些都是形成我所謂的自然貴族的情況，沒有它，便沒有國家。

To be bred in a place of estimation; to see nothing low  and sordid from one’s infancy; to be taught to respect one’s self; to be habituated to the censorial inspection of the public eye; to look early to public opinion; to stand upon such elevated ground as to be enabled to take a large view of the widespread and infinitely diversified combinations of men and affairs in a large society; to have leisure to read, to reflect, to converse; to be enabled to draw the court and attention of the wise and learned wherever they are to be found; to be habituated in the pursuit of honour and duty; to be formed to the highest degree of  vigilance, foresight, and circumspection, in a state of things in which no fault is committed with impunity, and the slightest mistakes draw on the most ruinous consequences; to be led to a guarded and regulated conduct, from a sense that you are considered as an instructor of your fellowcitizens in their highest concerns, and that you act as a reconciler between God and man; to be employed as an administrator of law and justice, and to be thereby amongst the first benefactors to mankind; to be a professor of high science, or of liberal and ingenious art; to be amongst rich traders, who from their success are presumed to have sharp and vigorous l understandings, and to possess the virtues of diligence, order, constancy, and regularity, and to have cultivated an habitual regard to commutative justice — these are the circumstances of men, that form what I should call a natural aristocracy, without which there is no nation.

> Russell Kirk, The Conservative Mind, Seventh Revised Edition. Washington, DC: Regnery (1985), p. 23.



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【第二章結論】

 
p.7
order ensures the vitality of civil society. adapt and trim and prune the old order to deal reconstruct our way of life to suit revolutionary abstractions.

秩序確保了文明社會的活力。我們應當適應、修整和修剪舊秩序，以應對變化，而不是重構我們的生活方式以迎合革命性的抽象觀念。

Perhaps the greatest monument to Burke’s brilliance and moral leadership was that there was no English Revolution in the late 18th century.

也許對伯克的才華和道德領導力的最大紀念碑就是，在18世紀末英國沒有發生革命。