“SEEING” THE PAST: TEXT AND QUESTIONS OF HISTORY IN THE RĀJATARAṄGIṆĪ

Traditional scholarly opinion has regarded Kalha?a's Rājatara?gi?ī, the twelfth‐century Sanskrit chronicle of Kashmiri kings, as a work of history. This essay proposes a reinvestigation of the nature of the iconic text from outside the shadow of that label. It first closely critiques the positivist “history hypothesis,” exposing its internal contradictions over questions of chronology, causality, and objectivity as attributed to the text. It then argues that more than an empiricist historical account that modern historians like to believe it is—in the process bracketing out integral rhetorical, mythic, and didactic parts of the text—the Rājatara?gi?ī should be viewed in totality for the kāvya (epic poem) that it is, which is to say, as representing a specific language practice that sought to produce meaning and articulated the poet's vision of the land and its lineages. The essay thus urges momentarily reclaiming the text from the hegemonic but troubled understanding of it as history—only to restore it ultimately to a more cohesive notion of historicality that is consistent with its contents. Toward this end, it highlights the concrete claim to epistemic authority that is asserted both by the genre of Sanskrit kāvya generally and by the Rājatara?gi?ī in particular, and their conception of the poetic “production” of the past that bears a striking resonance with constructivist historiography. It then traces the intensely intertextual and value‐laden nature of the epistemology that frames the Rājatara?gi?ī into a narrative discourse on power and ethical governance. It is in its narrativity and discursivity—its meaningful representation of what constitutes “true” knowledge of time and human action—that the salience of the Rājatara?gi?ī may lie.     

Law,Principle, and the Theologico-Political History of Sovereignty

Abstract

This article takes it cue from the debate between Carl Schmitt and Erik Peterson regarding the possibility of political theology within Christianity, and in response, offers a conceptual-historical portrait of sovereignty and its juridical dimensions. Beginning with the introduction of Roman law into the medieval Church, the article traces the logic of “legal principle” as the basis of sovereign decision and how the form of legal distinctions adopted into canon law translate the Romanitas of law into the theory of papal sovereignty. By the Romanitas of law, that is to say the principle of sovereignty in law. The article then seeks to describe the conceptual translations of Roman politics and Stoic metaphysics into theological form and the logic of this translation into medieval natural law. The article concludes by evaluating how the civic theology of Rome is conceptually inherited by the politics and legal framework of sovereignty and returns to Peterson’s critique of Schmitt, arguing that political theology can be understood as a dynamic where politics is theologized, assuming that in the history of religion, theology and politics are never fully distinct to begin with.     

试论塞瑟尔的"新君主制"学说

在文艺复兴时期的西欧,法国的宫廷大臣、著名的政治思想家克劳德·得·塞瑟尔根据现实社会的变动,提出了系统的"新君主制"学说.在肯定君主制的价值时,他鼓吹"王权神授",但却着重于从人性的角度来强调君主制的优越性.在对"明君政治"的憧憬中,他界定了一些君主应当遵循的政治行为规范,特别强调君主实施仁政,建立各等级之间的"和谐"秩序,并提出了等级变动的合理性.同时,塞瑟尔主张君主让各等级代表参政议政,建立"君主咨政会议制".他还提出"有限君权"的主张,力图以教会、"正义"与国家法令来遏止君主的暴政.此外,他还要求君主灵活地进行外交,积极进行殖民扩张.塞氏的政治学说充满着"过渡时期"社会所赋予的复杂性与矛盾性,但受时代变迁的感召与人文主义的熏陶,他突破传统的藩篱,提出了适应民族国家发展与新兴资产阶级成长之需要的"新君主制"学说.他的政治理想,反映了西方政治思想从中世纪向近代转型的历史趋势.     

16-18世纪英国宪制和宪制思想演进

英国16-18世纪宪制的演变比较曲折。内战前混合宪制已形成多年,其相应思想长期流行并影响后世。17世纪中期共和国的兴衰和分权制有名无实,给后人留下经验和教训。贵族寡头权力垄断和内阁制的形成发展,增强了18世纪英国混合制的特色。     

论明万历中后期言官对神宗的批判

明万历中后期,以言官为首的官僚集团兴起了一股批判明神宗的风潮。其根本缘由,首先是神宗君德严重缺失,其次在于言官勇于以道事君。在深层次上,这种批判也是该时期政局危殆、皇权变异并衰落以及士风日下、部分言官沽名钓誉等社会变动综合作用的结果。尽管这种批判并未摆脱传统的“尊君—罪君”的政治评判模式,但它是明清之际启蒙思想的先导和重要的思想资源。     

Voluntarism, municipalism and welfare: the geography of hospital utilization in England in 1938

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the pattern of hospital utilization (rather than provision) in England prior to the establishment of the NHS, showing the extent to which the probability of obtaining hospital treatment was a function of residence. Access to hospital care depended on the vigour of voluntarism and the political priorities of local governments. The pattern of voluntary hospital utilization is shown to have been markedly unequal, but the effect of municipal provision was to reduce disparities in access to services. The paper demonstrates variations in hospital utilization and discusses contemporary assessments of the situation. This work contributes to debates about the efficacy of non-profit forms of welfare delivery; it provides a novel British study to complement American work in this field. It also raises questions about the contemporary vogue for partnerships in health care delivery between the public and private sectors, arguing that such proposals rest on an optimistic view of history.     

Dryden’s Virgilian Kings

This essay discusses the forms of kingship which Dryden represents in his translation of Virgil’s Aeneid.     

丙酸钙水酒精溶液对纸质文物脱酸效果的影响

为考察丙酸钙作为新型脱酸溶质、水-乙醇作为混合溶剂用于纸质文物脱酸效果.针对不同质量丙酸钙的水-乙醇饱和溶液、不同的水与乙醇的质量比、去酸溶液的量及纸张在溶液中浸泡的时间等因素,对纸张脱酸效果的影响做了系列研究.结果表明,内酸钙为3g的水-乙醇饱和溶液用于纸张脱酸具有较好的效果,纸张在该溶液中浸泡后pH值为7左右,且自然干燥速度快,基本不发皱、不变色.