摘要
《旧制度与大革命》中的两个著名观点——"革命在苛政较轻的地方发生"、"繁荣加速革命到来"——常被解说成"松动崩溃"意义上的"托克维尔悖论"或"托克维尔定律"。这种"托克维尔悖论"凸显了心理效应在法国大革命发生过程中的某种实际作用,对深化大革命史学有一定的意义,但它终究不能说明大革命的根本起因。本文试图证明,托克维尔写作《旧制度与大革命》并无意于构建什么"托克维尔悖论"。他在书中的许多叙说也表明,他并不真的相信所谓"松动崩溃"这种心理效应能够自足地解释大革命的爆发,而他那两个著名观点的提出其实只是为了诱导读者和他一起去探寻大革命的真正起因,在他看来就是旧制度政府取消政治自由的行政集权政策。但出于某些特别的缘由,他的话时常含混不清且自相矛盾,容易引起误读。
The two famous viewpoints found in Tocqueville's The Old Regime and the French Revolution,namely that the Revolution broke out in a country where the oppression from the institutions of the Middle Ages was the lightest,and that prosperity hastened the Revolution,have often been interpreted as the 'Tocqueville paradox' or 'Tocqueville law' in terms of gradual crumbling of the Regime.Through highlighting the practical function of psychological effects in the formation of the French Revolution,this interpretation deepens revolutionary studies in a meaningful way,but ultimately does not completely clarify the essential cause of the Revolution.This article attempts to show that the constitution of the socalled 'Tocqueville conundrum' was not at all a part of Tocqueville's plan for writing ' The Old Regime and the French Revolution.' What he actually stated in \he book testifies that he did not truly believe that the psychological effect of the so-called 'collapse from conditional laxity' alone could explain the outbreak of the Revolution.His practical purpose in positing these two famous viewpoints concerning the 'Tocqueville conundrum' was,in fact,to prod readers into seeking the essential cause of the Revolution alongside him.According to him,it was nothing else but the administrative centralization policy of the French Old Regime's government that abolished political liberty.However,for various reasons,Tocqueville's arguments were occasionally ambiguous,inconsistent,and easily caused misunderstanding.
出处
《世界历史》
CSSCI
北大核心
2013年第5期4-17,157,共14页
World History
