Political freedom in Byzantium: the rhetoric of liberty and the periodization of Roman history

ABSTRACT

This paper proposes an intellectual history of the idea that the later Roman empire and, subsequently, the whole of Byzantium were less ‘free’ in comparison to the Roman Republic. Anxiety over diminished freedom recurred throughout Roman history, but only a few specific expressions of it were enshrined in modern thought as the basis on which to divide history into periods. The theorists of the Enlightenment, moreover, invented an unfree Byzantium for their own political purposes and not by examining the facts about its political culture. The second part of the paper proposes that the Byzantines valorized a model of positive freedom as legal-institutional protection against arbitrary oppressive power, including against both barbarian domination and domestic abuses. In contrast to modern thought, which tends to see the imperial position as the chief threat to liberty, the Byzantines viewed it as its bulwark. Yet they too had remedies for oppressive emperors, suggesting that the otherwise well-attested invocations of freedom were not a mere rhetorical trope for them but an actionable cultural norm.     

中西历史比较研究是否可行?--由刑罚的宽免说到"专制主义中央集权"的可疑

对中西历史进行比较研究是一项极其困难的学术工作,学者们对其可行性和方法论尚未给出清楚系统的说明。比较史学是否可以成为像比较文学和比较法学这样为学界所公认的成熟学科还有待学者们的研究实践来证明。以中西法制史上刑罚的宽免为例,历史研究的对观或对照方法在某些个案研究中会有拓宽视野和思路的作用;而通过对中国古代历史研究中流行的“专制主义中央集权”概念的质疑性分析,我们发现,另一种可行的同时又是宏观的历史比较研究可以是超越时间和空间局限的社会科学研究。至少,这样一种宏观的思维将会帮助我们突破一些陈旧和可能错误的思维框架。     

对清代史馆中史官生存状况的考察

清代史无专官,史馆内的史官主要由翰林院、内阁及各部院衙门派充,其余则靠荐举、延请、招考和征用来获得.史官的流动性很大,统治者根据需要,可以随时将史官调离史馆.史官在史馆内交流治学心得、探讨史书编纂问题,有一定的自由度,但又被严格控制在一定限度内,绝对不允许危及统治者根本利益的言论和行为出现.清代史官多是知识精英,有着修史以经世的政治情怀,但由于史馆修史要体现官方意志,史官因此饱受专制政治的精神摧残,倍尝人格分裂之苦.到晚清,多数史官表现出政治上的保守和迟钝,无法在社会变革面前做出相应的反应.     

中国近代知识阶层的开明专制思想

寻求富强和争取民主是近现代中国知识阶层政治思想的两个重要面相,但是为寻求快速富强所需要的集权专制与民主追求、必然的分权之紧张与冲突,撕裂了整个知识阶层。作为缓解这种紧张和冲突之设计,用专制实现现代化的开明专制思想持续地影响着数代知识分子。开明专制思想虽然受到批驳,在实践上也遭遇过失败,但在清末至抗战前几十年间仍被不少知识分子视做一种合理的过渡政体和发展模式,被赋予了救亡和启蒙的双重任务。作为西方政治思想中国化的大胆尝试和众多知识分子的希望寄托,开明专制思想不仅具有重要的思想价值,也是了解近现代中国知识分子的一把钥匙。     

国家起源的意志说

独立性与协同性是国家起源的根据。国家的质是多方面的,从意志上说,国家是意志坚定性与妥协性的产物;意志的绝对坚定性或绝对妥协性导致专制;坚定性与妥协性的统一形成民主。     

Montesquieu's gentle prince: the law of majesty and the moderation of despotism in The Spirit of the Laws

Apart from its introductory chapters, Book 12 of The Spirit of the Laws has generally been disregarded by scholars of Montesquieu as a series of historical digressions with few significant implications. As a result, some important dimensions of Montesquieu's political thought have gone unacknowledged. Book 12 is particularly concerned with the punishment of crimes against God and of actions that wound sovereign majesty. Montesquieu presents his view on these subjects through an extended commentary on some aspects of Roman law and, more briefly, on the law of the Pentateuch. This article shows that Montesquieu attributes the criminalization of both kinds of offences to the vengefulness of certain rulers and to the eagerness of their ministers to avenge them. By his assessment, the desire to punish such crimes leads to excesses that undermine political liberty and give rise to despotism. Through this emphasis on the psychological factors that drive the corruption of moderate regimes, Montesquieu reveals a greater concern with the personal qualities of rulers than is often acknowledged. As he identifies certain rulers with absolute power who have nonetheless disavowed vengeance, Montesquieu points to the possibility of reforming despotism through a change in the character of the prince.