Chapter 2 History with a purpose
黑格尔很重视历史。Hegel took history seriously. 康德认为可以在纯粹哲学的基础上讨论人性是什么以及必须是什么，In contrast to Kant, who thought he could say on purely philosophical grounds what human nature is and always must be, 而黑格尔则认同席勒的看法，即人类境况的基础可以随历史时期的不同而发生改变。Hegel accepted Schiller’s suggestion that the very foundations of the human condition could change from one historical era to another. 这种变化的观念，这种贯穿在历史中的发展观念，对于黑格尔的世界观来说是非常基本的。This notion of change, of development throughout history, is fundamental to Hegel’s view of the world. 弗里德里希·恩格斯在回顾黑格尔对他本人及其同事卡尔·马克思的重要意义时曾写道：Friedrich Engels, looking back on Hegel’s importance to himself and to his colleague Karl Marx, wrote:
黑格尔的思维方式不同于所有其他哲学家的地方，就在于他的思维方式有罕见的历史感作基础。What distinguished Hegel’s mode of thinking from that of all other philosophers was the exceptional historical sense underlying it. 无论所运用的形式多么抽象和唯心，他的思想发展总是与世界历史的发展相平行，However abstract and idealist the form employed, the development of his ideas runs always parallel to the development of world history, 事实上，后者据说只是对前者的验证。and the latter is indeed supposed to be only the proof of the former.
我们暂且不必关心恩格斯最后所说的——关于世界历史的发展是黑格尔思想体系的“验证”——这句话的含义，We need not yet concern ourselves about the meaning of Engels’ last clause – the reference to the development of world history as the ‘proof’ of Hegel’s system of ideas 因为引起恩格斯注意的黑格尔思想发展与世界历史发展之间无疑具有的那种平行已经足以说明，我们用黑格尔对世界历史的理解来切入其思想体系是有正当理由的。– for the undoubted parallel between the development of Hegel’s ideas and the development of world history to which Engels draws attention is sufficient justification for using Hegel’s understanding of world history as our way into his system of ideas.
由恩格斯这段话还可以看出，在评价黑格尔对马克思和他本人的重要影响时，他把黑格尔的历史感置于首位。The other point to be drawn from what Engels says is simply that in assessing the importance of Hegel’s influence on Marx and himself, he gives first place to Hegel’s historical sense. 因此，在开始介绍黑格尔的《历史哲学》时，我们先从这样一个主题开始，它不仅对黑格尔的体系，而且对其思想的持久影响都至关重要。So in beginning our introduction with Hegel’s Philosophy of History, we are beginning with a topic that is central not only to Hegel’s system, but also to the enduring influence of his ideas.
什么是历史哲学？
首先要知道“历史哲学”在黑格尔那里是什么意思。It is first necessary to understand what a ‘philosophy of history’ is, in Hegel’s sense of the term. 黑格尔的《历史哲学》包含了大量历史材料，Hegel’s Philosophy of History contains a good deal of historical information. 其中可以看到某种世界历史纲要。One can find in it a kind of outline of world history, 从中国、印度和波斯的早期文明开始，经由古希腊到罗马时代，它追溯了欧洲历史的发展道路，从封建制到宗教改革一直到启蒙运动和法国大革命。from the early civilizations of China, India, and Persia, through ancient Greece to Roman times, and then tracing the path of European history from feudalism to the Reformation and on to the Enlightenment and the French Revolution. 不过，黑格尔显然并不认为他的《历史哲学》仅仅是一个历史纲要。Yet Hegel obviously did not think of his Philosophy of History as merely a historical outline. 这是一部哲学著作，因为它把纯粹的历史事实当作原始材料，并试图超越这些事实。His work is a work of philosophy because it takes the bare facts of history as its raw material, and attempts to go beyond those facts. 黑格尔说：“历史哲学只不过是对历史的深思罢了。”Hegel himself said that ‘the philosophy of history means nothing but the thoughtful consideration of it’. 这虽然可能是他本人的定义，但并没有充分表达他在《历史哲学》中所要表达的意思。While this may be his own definition, however, it conveys a less than adequate idea of what Hegel is up to in his Philosophy of History. 黑格尔的定义没有说，根据他的意图，对历史的“深思”应试图把原始材料呈现为一种理性发展过程的一部分，从而揭示出世界历史的意义。What Hegel’s definition leaves out is his intention that the ‘thoughtful consideration’ of history should seek to present its raw material as part of a rational process of development, thus revealing the meaning and significance of world history.这里我们已经有了黑格尔的一个核心信念——相信历史有某种意义。Here, already, we have one of Hegel’s central beliefs – the belief that history has some meaning and significance.
倘若黑格尔的历史观像麦克白的人生观一样阴郁，也就是说，把历史看成“一个白痴所讲的故事，虽然滔滔不绝、充满愤怒，却毫无意义”，那么他永远也不会尝试撰写《历史哲学》，其一生的工作也会变得面目全非。Had Hegel viewed history along the lines of Macbeth’s bleak vision of life, that is, as ‘a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing’, he would never have attempted to write the Philosophy of History and his life’s work would have been unrecognizably different. 当然，现代的科学看法与麦克白很相近。The modern scientific view is, of course, much like Macbeth’s. 它说，我们这颗行星仅仅是大得无法想象的宇宙中的一粒微尘。It tells us that our planet is just one tiny speck in a universe of unimaginable size; 在这颗行星上，生命起源于气体的偶然结合，然后在自然选择的盲目力量下发生演化。and that on this planet life began from a chance combination of gases and then evolved by the blind forces of natural selection.
与关于物种起源的这种看法相一致，大多数现代思想都拒绝承认，除了创造历史的无数个人的无数目的之外，历史还有什么最终目的。Consistent with this view of the origin of our species, most modern thought refuses to assume that history has any ultimate purpose beyond the myriad individual purposes of the countless human beings who make history. 而在黑格尔的时代，他自信人类历史并非各种事件的无意义堆积，这并不稀奇—In Hegel’s day there was nothing unusual about his confident belief that human history is not a meaningless jumble of events —事实上，即使在今天，它也没有超出正常范围，因为宗教思想一直试图从人类历史的发展进程中看出意义，– indeed, it is not really out of the ordinary even now, for religious thought has traditionally seen meaning and significance in the course taken by human history, 即使这种历史只有作为尚未到来的一个更美好世界的序幕才有意义。even if it has significance only as a prelude to a better world still to come.
关于历史有意义这一说法，可以从许多角度来理解。There are many different ways in which the claim that history is meaningful may be understood. 既可以将它理解为，历史实现了某个发动整个历史进程的造物主的目的，It may be taken as a claim that history is the working out of the purposes of some Creator who set the whole process in motion; 也可以更加神秘地将它理解为是想暗示宇宙本身就可能有目的。or, more mysteriously, it may be intended to suggest that the universe itself can somehow have purposes. 此外，还可以去除“历史有意义”这一断言的所有宗教的或神秘的含义，只把它理解成一种较为狭窄的说法，即反思过去能使我们看清历史的走向及其最终目标；The assertion that history has a meaning can also be shorn of all religious or mystical connotations and understood simply as the more limited claim that reflection on our past enables us to discern the direction history is taking, and the destination it will ultimately reach; 如果幸运的话，该目标将是令人向往的，因此可被视为我们的奋斗目标。this destination, for some fortunate reason, being a desirable one and hence one we can accept as the goal of our own strivings.
对应于对历史有意义的不同理解，我们也可以从不同角度来理解黑格尔的《历史哲学》。It is possible to interpret Hegel’s Philosophy of History in different ways, corresponding to these different ways of understanding the claim that there is a meaning to history. 根据把握黑格尔思想的总体策略，我们先来讨论这部著作中的这样一些要素，In accordance with our general strategy of coming to grips with Hegel, we shall begin with those elements of the work that endow history with a meaning in the third, 它们将上述理解方式中的第三种即最少神秘色彩的意义赋予了历史。and least mysterious, of the various ways of understanding the claim.
在《历史哲学》的导言中，黑格尔清晰阐述了他所认为的整个人类历史的方向和目标：In his own introduction to the Philosophy of History, Hegel clearly states his view of the direction and destination of all human history: “世界历史不过是自由意识的进步罢了。”‘The history of the world is none other than the progress of the consciousness of freedom.’ 这句话为全书设定了主题。（我们甚至可以说，它概括了黑格尔全部思想的主题——不过这一点我们稍后再谈。）This sentence sets the theme for the entire work. (One might even say that it sums up the theme of all of Hegel’s thought – but more of that later.) 现在我们来看看黑格尔是如何详细阐述这一主题的。Now we must see how Hegel elaborates upon his theme.黑格尔先是论述了他所谓的“东方世界”，即中国、印度和古代波斯帝国。He begins with an account of what he calls ‘The Oriental World’ – by which he means China, India, and the ancient empire of Persia. 黑格尔认为，中国和印度是“停滞的”文明，社会一旦发展到某一点便动弹不得。China and India Hegel regards as ‘stationary’ civilizations, societies that have reached a certain point of their development and then somehow stuck fast. 他称这些文明“处于世界历史之外”，换句话说，它们并非构成黑格尔历史哲学基础的整个发展过程的一部分。He describes them as ‘outside the World’s History’, in other words not part of the overall process of development that is the basis of his philosophy of history. 真正的历史开始于波斯帝国。黑格尔说，这是“逝去的第一个帝国”。True history begins with the Persian Empire, ‘the first Empire’, says Hegel, ‘that passed away’.
黑格尔对东方世界的讨论包含许多细节，所有这些细节都与一种想法有关，那就是在东方社会，只有统治者一个人才是自由的个体，Hegel’s discussion of the oriental world contains many points of detail, all related to the idea that in oriental society only one person – the ruler – is a free individual. 所有其他人都完全缺少自由，因为他们的意志必须服从于族长、喇嘛、皇帝、法老或其他什么专制者的意志。All others are totally lacking in freedom, because they must subordinate their will to that of the patriarch, lama, emperor, pharaoh, or whatever else the despot may be called. 这种自由的缺乏达到了很深的程度。This lack of freedom goes very deep.专制者的臣民们知道，如果不服从专制者的意志，就会受到残酷的惩罚。 It is not simply that the subjects of the despot know that the despot can punish them cruelly for disobeying his will. 不仅如此，这似乎还暗示他们有自己的意志，可以思考而且的确思考过服从专制者是否明智或正确。黑格尔说，事实上，东方的臣民并无现代意义上的个人意志。在东方，法律甚至是道德本身都是一种外在的规定。那里缺乏个人良知的概念，因此个人根本不可能形成关于对错的道德判断。对东方人来说，除统治者外，关于这些问题的看法都来自于外界；它们是关于世界的事实，和高山海洋的存在一样无须质疑。
根据黑格尔的说法，这种个人独立性的贫乏在不同的东方文化中有不同形式的表现，但结果总是一样的。This lack of personal independence takes different forms in different oriental cultures, according to Hegel, but the result is always the same.
黑格尔告诉我们，中国人的国家是基于家庭原则建立起来的。The Chinese state, Hegel tells us, is organized on the principle of the family. 政府以皇帝所实施的家长式的管理为基础，所有其他人则自视为国家的孩子。Government is based on the paternal management of the emperor, and all others see themselves as children of the state. 正因如此，中国社会非常强调人要尊敬和服从父母。It is for this reason that Chinese society places such strong emphasis on the honour and obedience one owes to one’s parents. 而印度则没有个人自由的观念，因为其基本社会制度——给每一个人都指定了职业的种姓制度——India, in contrast, has no concept of individual freedom because the basic institution of society – the caste system which allocates to each his or her occupation in life – 并未被看成政治制度，而是被看成某种自然的、从而不可改变的东西。is not seen as a political institution, but as something natural and hence unchangeable. 因此在印度，统治性的力量不是专制的人，而是自然的专制。The governing power in India is therefore not a human despot, but the despotism of nature.
波斯就不同了。Persia is different. 虽然初看起来波斯皇帝似乎是与中国皇帝大体相同的专制君主，Although at first glance the Persian emperor seems to be an absolute ruler in much the same sense as the emperor of China, 但波斯帝国的基础并不只是自然的家庭服从扩展到整个国家，而是对臣民和统治者都有约束力的一般原则或法律。the basis of the Persian Empire is not merely natural family obedience extended to the entire state, but a general principle, a law which regulates the ruler as well as the subject. 因为波斯是一个神权统治的君主政体，其基础是崇拜光明神的琐罗亚斯德教。For Persia was a theocratic monarchy, based on the religion of Zoroaster, which involved the worship of Light. 黑格尔很重视光明这一观念，认为它是某种纯粹和普遍的东西，就像太阳一样平等地普照万物和恩泽万物。Hegel makes much of the idea of light as something pure and universal, something which, like the sun, shines on all and confers equal benefits on all. 当然，这并不意味着波斯是平等主义的。皇帝依然是专制君主，因此是帝国中唯一的自由人。但Of course this does not mean that Persia was egalitarian. The emperor was still an absolute ruler and hence the only free man in the empire; 他的统治建立在一般原则的基础之上，而且未被看成自然事实，这意味着发展是有可能的。yet the fact that his rule was based on a general principle and was not seen as a natural fact meant that development was possible. 这种建立在理智原则或精神原则基础上的统治观念，标志着黑格尔想要追溯的自由意识发展的开端。The idea of rule based on an intellectual or spiritual principle signifies the beginning of the growth of the consciousness of freedom that Hegel intends to trace. 因此，波斯是“真正历史”的开端。Hence it is the beginning of ‘true history’.
佛陀乔达摩·悉达多（约公元前563-前483）
希腊世界
The Greek world
在波斯帝国，自由意识的发展是有潜力的，但这种潜力在帝国的结构之下不可能实现。In the Persian Empire the potential for growth in the consciousness of freedom existed; but this potential could not be realized within the structure of the empire. 然而，波斯帝国在扩张过程中接触到了雅典、斯巴达等古希腊城邦。In its efforts to expand, however, the Persian Empire came into contact with Athens, Sparta, and the other city-states of ancient Greece. 波斯皇帝要希腊人承认其霸权，The Persian emperor asked the Greeks to acknowledge his supremacy. 但遭到拒绝，遂集结起庞大的军队和舰队，They refused. The emperor assembled an enormous army and a vast fleet of ships. 与希腊舰队在萨拉米斯展开了激战。The Persian fleet and the Greek fleet met at Salamis. 黑格尔说，这场英勇的战役是力图把世界统一在一个最高统治者之下的东方专制者与承认“自由个体”原则的各个城邦之间的较量。This epic battle, Hegel says, was a contest between an oriental despot who sought a world united under one lord and sovereign, and separate states that recognized the principle of ‘free individuality’. 而希腊人的胜利意味着，世界历史的潮流从专制的东方世界转移到了希腊城邦世界。The Greek victory meant that the tide of world history passed from the despotic oriental world to the world of the Greek city-states.
虽然黑格尔认为自由个体的观念为希腊世界赋予了生气，While Hegel sees the Greek world as animated by the idea of free individuality, 但他也认为，在这一历史阶段，个体自由还远没有得到充分发展。it is his view that the freedom of the individual is by no means fully developed at this stage of history. 他之所以认为希腊的自由观念有局限性，乃是出于两点理由。He has two different reasons for regarding the Greek idea of freedom as a limited one. 一个直接，一个更复杂。One of these reasons is straightforward and the other is more complex.
直接的理由是，希腊的自由观念允许奴隶制。The straightforward reason is that the Greek idea of freedom allows slavery. 事实上，“允许”一词太弱了些，因为在黑格尔看来，希腊的民主形式要想能够运作，就必定需要奴隶制。Indeed, ‘allows’ is too weak a term, for in Hegel’s view the Greek form of democracy positively required slavery if it was to function at all. 比如在雅典，如果每一位公民都有权利和义务参加作为城邦最高决策机构的公共集会，那么谁来做日常工作以提供生活之所需呢？If, as was the case in Athens, every citizen has the right and duty to take part in the public assembly that is the supreme decision-making body of the city-state, then who is there to do the daily work of providing the necessities of life? 因此必须有一类劳动者，他们不享受公民权利也不承担公民义务，换句话说，必须有奴隶。There must be a category of workers who lack the rights and duties of citizens – in other words, there must be slaves.
在东方世界，只有一个人即统治者是自由的。In the oriental world only one – the ruler – is free. 奴隶制的存在意味着希腊世界已经发展到这样一个阶段，此时有一些人——不是所有人——是自由的。但The existence of slavery means that the Greek world has progressed to a stage at which some – not all – are free. 黑格尔认为，即使是希腊城邦的自由公民也只有一种不完全的自由。他But even those who are free citizens of a Greek city-state are only free, Hegel believes, in an incomplete way. 这样说的理由并不容易把握。黑格尔声称，希腊人没有个人良知的观念。正His reason for saying this is not so easy to grasp. He claims that the Greeks had no concept of individual conscience. 如我们所看到的，黑格尔认为东方世界也缺乏这一观念。This concept, as we have seen, Hegel thought to be lacking in the oriental world too; 但东方人毫无反思地服从上层留传下来的道德规范，而希腊人的行为动机却发自他们的内心。but whereas in the Orient people simply obeyed, without reflection, a moral code that was handed down to them from on high, with the Greeks the motivation came from inside themselves. 根据黑格尔的说法，希腊人习惯于为自己的国家活着而不做进一步反思。They had, according to Hegel, the habit of living for their country, without further reflection. 这种习惯并非源于对某种抽象原则的接受，比如主张每个人都应为自己的国家而行动。This habit did not derive from the acceptance of some abstract principle, such as the idea that everyone should act for the sake of his or her country. 事实上，希腊人习惯于认为自己与其特定的城邦密不可分地联系在一起，以至于不会区分他们自身的利益和他们所处的共同体的利益。Rather the Greeks habitually thought of themselves as so indissolubly linked with their own particular city-state that they did not distinguish between their own interests and the interests of the community in which they lived. 他们无法设想自己脱离或反对这个共同体及其所有习俗和社会生活方式。They could not conceive of themselves as living apart from, or in opposition to, this community, with all its customs and forms of social life.所有这些都意味着，希腊人真心愿意去做对共同体最有益的事。All this means that the readiness of the Greeks to do what is best for the community as a whole comes from within. 这表明，希腊人的自由与东方人有所不同。This would suggest that the Greeks were free in a way in which the Orientals were not. 希腊人根据自己的意愿去做事，而不是按照外在命令的要求去做。They did as they themselves wished to do, not as some external decree required them to do. 但黑格尔说，正因为动机来得如此自然，所以这种自由是不完整的。Yet Hegel says that this is an incomplete form of freedom just because the motivation comes so naturally. 无论培养而成的习惯和习俗会带来什么结果，这些结果都不是源于对人的理性的运用。Whatever is the result of the habits and customs in which one was brought up is not the result of the use of one’s reason. 如果我是出于习惯而做某事，那么我就并非有意为之。If I do something from habit, I have not deliberately chosen to do it. 可以说，即使没有专制者告诉我做什么，而且行为的动机看起来也发自内心，我的行动也仍然受制于我的意志之外的力量，受制于使我形成习惯的社会力量。My actions, it might be said, are still governed by forces external to my will – the social forces that gave me my habits – even though there is no despot telling me what to do, and the motivation for the action appears to come from within.作为依赖于外在力量的一种表现，黑格尔提到希腊人在从事任何重要的冒险行动之前都喜欢征求神谕作指导。As a symptom of this dependence on external forces, Hegel refers to the Greek tendency to consult an oracle for guidance before any important venture is undertaken. 神谕的建议有可能基于一个献祭用的动物的肠子状态，或者基于其他某个全然独立于当事者本人思想的自然事件。The advice of the oracle might be based on the state of the intestines of a sacrificed animal, or on some other natural event quite independent of one’s own thought. 真正自由的人决不会让最重要的决断由这些事件来决定，而是会用自己的理性能力做出决断。Genuinely free people would not allow their most important decisions to be determined by such events; they would make their own decisions, using their capacity to reason. 理性能使自由的人超越自然世界的偶然事件，并对影响他的环境和力量做出批判性的反思。Reason lifts free people above the chance events of the natural world, and enables them to reflect critically upon their situation and the forces that influence them. 因此，没有批判性的思考和反思就不可能完全获得自由。Hence freedom cannot be fully achieved without critical thought and reflection.于是，批判性的思考和反思乃是进一步推动自由发展的关键。Critical thought and reflection, then, is the key to further progress in the development of freedom. 来自希腊神阿波罗的诫命敦促希腊人沿这条道路前进：“人啊，认识你自己！”The command attributed to the Greek god Apollo urged the Greeks along this path: ‘Man, know thyself.’ 不受习惯信念的束缚，进行自由探索，这一号召为希腊哲学家尤其是苏格拉底所接受。This summons to free enquiry, untrammelled by customary beliefs, was taken up by the Greek philosophers, and especially by Socrates. 苏格拉底通常会以一种对话形式来表达自己的观点，其对话者是某位雅典俊杰，后者自认为很清楚什么是善、什么是正义。Socrates typically expresses his own views in the form of a dialogue with some worthy Athenian who thinks that he knows well what is good or just. 事实证明，这种“知道”只不过是随声附和一些关于善或正义的流行说法罢了。This ‘knowledge’ turns out to be merely the ability to echo some common saying about goodness or justice, 苏格拉底毫不费力就能表明，这种习惯性的道德观念不可能充分。and Socrates has no difficulty in showing that this customary conception of morality cannot be the full story. 例如，针对通常认为的正义就是物归原主，苏格拉底举出一种情形：一位朋友借给你一件武器，但此后变得精神错乱了。For example, against the common idea that justice consists in giving to each what is owed to him, Socrates poses the case of a friend who has lent you a weapon, but has since become deranged. 你也许欠他这件武器，但将其归还真的就正义吗？You may owe him the weapon, but is it really just to return it? 就这样，苏格拉底引导其听众对自己一直以来所接受的习惯性道德准则进行批判性的反思。Thus Socrates leads his audience to critical reflection upon the customary morality they have always accepted. 这种批判性反思使理性而非社会习俗成为对与错的最终评判者。This critical reflection makes reason, not social custom, the final judge of right and wrong.黑格尔把苏格拉底所例证的原则看成反对雅典城邦的一种革命性力量，Hegel sees the principle exemplified by Socrates as a revolutionary force against the Athenian state. 因此他认为判处苏格拉底死刑是无可指摘的：Thus he judges the death sentence passed upon Socrates as unimpeachably correct: 雅典人宣判的是使其集体得以维系的传统道德的最危险敌人。the Athenian people were condemning the deadliest foe of the customary morality on which their communal existence was based. 但独立思考的原则深深地植根于雅典人心中，一个人的死并不能将其根除。Yet the principle of independent thought was too firmly rooted in Athens to be extirpated by the death of one individual; 因此，指控苏格拉底的人最终被判刑，苏格拉底本人也在死后被证明无罪。and so in time the accusers of Socrates were condemned and Socrates himself posthumously exonerated. 然而，这一独立思考原则却是雅典衰落的最终原因，它标志着希腊文明在世界历史中扮演的角色开始走向尽头。This principle of independent thought was, none the less, the ultimate cause of the downfall of Athens and marks the beginning of the end of the world-historical role played by the Greek civilization.
罗马世界
The Roman world
与构成希腊城邦基础的那种无反思的习惯性统一体相对照，黑格尔说罗马帝国由不同民族所组成，缺少任何自然的族长纽带或其他习惯性纽带，因此需要在暴力的支持下以最严厉的纪律组织在一起。In contrast to the unreflective customary unity which formed the basis of the Greek city-states, Hegel pictures the Roman Empire as built up from a collection of diverse peoples, lacking all natural patriarchal or other customary bonds, and hence requiring the most severe discipline, backed by force, to hold it together. 这便使罗马在世界历史下一阶段的统治像是回到了以波斯帝国为典型的东方专制模型。This makes the dominance of Rome in the next stage of world history appear something of a reversion to the despotic oriental model, as typified in the Persian Empire. 但正如黑格尔所显示的，世界历史的进程虽然肯定不是一帆风顺、稳步前进，但也不是倒退。But while the course of world history, as Hegel presents it, is certainly not a smooth and steady progression, it does not go backwards either. 前一时代所获得的东西绝不会完全丧失。The gains made in a previous epoch are never lost entirely. 因此黑格尔认真区分了罗马帝国和波斯帝国背后的原则。So Hegel carefully distinguishes between the underlying principles of the Persian and the Roman empires. 产生于希腊时代的个体性观念以及个人有能力做出判断的观念并未消失。The idea of individuality, of the private capacity for judgement, that was born in the Greek era has not disappeared. 事实上，罗马帝国的基础是这样一种政治体制和法律制度，它把个人权利当作其最基本的观念之一。Indeed, the Roman state rests upon a political constitution and a legal system which has individual right as one of its most fundamental notions. 因此，罗马帝国对个人自由的认可是波斯帝国从未达到的。Thus the Roman state recognizes individual freedom in a way that the Persian Empire never could; 当然，潜在困难是，这种对个人自由的认可纯粹是法律或形式上的——黑格尔称之为“抽象的个人自由”。the catch is, of course, that this recognition of individual freedom is a purely legal or formal matter – Hegel calls it ‘abstract freedom of the individual’. 允许个人发展出各种思想和生活方式的那种真正的自由——黑格尔称之为“具体的个体性”——则被罗马的冷酷暴力无情地摧毁了。The real freedom that allows individuals to develop a diversity of ideas and ways of living – ‘concrete individuality’ in Hegel’s terminology – is ruthlessly crushed by the brute power of Rome.
于是，波斯帝国与罗马帝国之间的真正差异在于，东方专制主义原则肆意主导着波斯帝国，罗马帝国则一直在国家的专制权力与个体性的理想之间保持着张力。The real difference between the Persian and the Roman empires, then, is that whereas in the former the principle of oriental despotism held unbridled sway, in the latter there is a constant tension between the absolute power of the state and the ideal of individuality. 波斯帝国尚未发展出个体性理想，因此缺少这种张力。This tension was lacking in the Persian Empire because the ideal of individuality was yet to be developed; 希腊世界也缺少这种张力，因为虽然个体性的观念已经初现端倪，但政治权力尚未残酷无情地集中起来与之对抗。it was lacking in the Greek world because, while the idea of individuality had come to the fore, political power was not so ruthlessly centralized in opposition to it.
正如黑格尔所描绘的，罗马世界并非幸福之地。The Roman world, as Hegel paints it, is not a happy place. 希腊世界那种充满快乐的、自发的自由精神已经不复存在。The joyous, spontaneous free spirit of the Greek world has been broken. 面对着表面上必须服从的国家命令，只有退回到内心，躲进斯多亚主义、伊壁鸠鲁主义或怀疑论那样的哲学中才能找到自由。In the face of the demands of the state for outward conformity, freedom can only be found by retreating into oneself, by taking refuge in a philosophy such as Stoicism, Epicureanism, or Scepticism. 我们在此无须关心这些相互对立的哲学流派的细节，重要的是它们都倾向于蔑视现实世界所提供的一切——财富、政治权力、世俗荣耀——并希望用一种生活理想取而代之，这种理想要求其信奉者对外在世界所发生的一切都绝对无动于衷。The details of these opposing philosophical schools need not concern us here; what is important is their common tendency to pooh-pooh everything that the real world has to offer – riches, political power, worldly glory – and to substitute an ideal of living which makes the adherent absolutely indifferent to anything the outside world can do.根据黑格尔的说法，这些哲学流派之所以能够流传蔓延，是因为自视为自由人的个体面对着专横跋扈的权力必定会感到无能为力。The spread of these philosophical schools was, according to Hegel, a result of the helplessness that the individual, who sees himself as a free being, must feel in the face of a domineering power he is unable to influence. 然而，退回到哲学之中却是对这种境况的一种消极回应，是面对着充满敌意的世界所提出的一种令人绝望的建议。The retreat into philosophy is, however, a negative response to this situation; it is a counsel of despair in the face of a hostile world. 这里需要的是一种更加积极的解决办法，而基督教提供了这种办法。There was a need for a more positive solution. This solution was provided by Christianity.
要想理解黑格尔为什么这样看基督教，就必须知道，在黑格尔看来，人类并不仅仅是非常聪明的动物。To understand why Hegel sees Christianity in this way, we must appreciate that for Hegel human beings are not just very clever animals. 人类和动物一样生活在自然世界中，但他们也是精神性的存在。Humans live in the natural world, as animals do, but they are also spiritual beings. 在认识到自己是精神性的存在之前，人类一直深陷于自然界，即那个物质力量的世界。Until they recognize themselves as spiritual beings, humans are trapped in the natural world, the world of material forces. 当自然界像罗马世界一样执意阻碍人类对自由的渴望时，自然界内部无处可逃，除非像上面提到的那样退回到一种对自然界持纯粹负面态度的哲学中去。When the natural world is implacably resistant to their aspiration for freedom, as the Roman world was, there is no escape within the natural world, apart from the already mentioned retreat into a philosophy based on a purely negative attitude towards the natural world. 然而，一旦人类认识到自己是精神性的存在，自然界的敌意就不再那么重要了；Once humans recognize themselves as spiritual beings, however, the hostility of the natural world ceases to be all-important; 它能以积极的方式被超越，因为自然界之外有某种积极的东西。it can be transcended in a positive manner because there is something positive beyond the natural world.
根据黑格尔的说法，基督教之所以特殊，是因为耶稣基督既是人，又是上帝的儿子。The Christian religion is special, according to Hegel, because Jesus Christ was both a human being and the Son of God. 这便教导我们，虽然人在某些方面有局限性，但他是按照上帝的形象创造出来的，人的内部有一种无限价值和永恒使命。This teaches humans that, though limited in some respects, they are at the same time made in the image of God and have within themselves an infinite value and an eternal destiny. 结果便发展出了黑格尔所谓的“宗教的自我意识”，即认识到我们真正的家不是自然世界，而是精神世界。The result is the development of what Hegel calls ‘religious self-consciousness’: a recognition that it is the spiritual world, not the natural world, that is our true home. 要想获得这种认识，人就必须打破自然欲望乃至整个自然生存施加给他的束缚。To achieve this awareness humans have to break the hold that natural desires, and indeed the whole of natural existence, has over them.认识到人类的精神本性对于他们是根本的东西，这正是基督教的任务。It is the role of the Christian religion to achieve this awareness that the spiritual nature of human beings is what is essential to them. 然而，这并非一蹴而就，因为所需要的不仅是内心的虔诚。This does not, however, happen all at once; for it is not mere inner piety that is required. 基督徒虔诚内心中所发生的变化还必须对外在现实世界加以改变，使之能够满足作为精神存在的人类的要求。The change that takes place in the pious heart of the Christian believer must transform the real external world into something that satisfies the requirements of humans as spiritual beings. 正如我们将要看到的，为了能够实现这一点，人类从整个基督教时代一直走到了黑格尔的时代。As we shall see, it takes the whole of the Christian era up to Hegel’s own time for humanity to become capable of achieving this.
没过多久，希腊时代所特有的那些对自由的限制的确被废除了。What does happen rather sooner is that the limitations on freedom characteristic of the Greek era are abolished. 首先，基督教反对奴隶制，因为每一个人类成员都具有相同的、本质上的无限价值。First, Christianity opposes slavery, for each unit of mankind has the same essential infinite value. 其次是不再依赖神谕，因为神谕代表着自然界的偶然事件对精神存在者的自由选择的支配。Secondly, the dependence on oracles ceases, for oracles represent the dominance of the chance happenings of the natural world over the free choice of spiritual beings. 第三，大体上出于同样的理由，希腊社会那种习惯性的道德被一种以精神性的爱的观念为基础的道德所取代。Thirdly, and for much the same reason, the customary morality of Greek society is replaced by a morality based on the spiritual idea of love.
基督教在罗马帝国时期开始崭露头角，在君士坦丁大帝治下则成为国教。Christianity comes to the fore under the Roman Empire and becomes the official religion of the Empire under Constantine. 虽然西罗马帝国因蛮族入侵而陷落，但拜占庭帝国在1000多年的时间里一直信仰基督教。Though the western half of the Empire falls to the barbarian invasions, the Byzantine Empire remains Christian for more than a thousand years. 不过在黑格尔看来，这是一种停滞而颓废的基督教，因为它试图用基督教的虚假外表来粉饰那已经烂透了的组织结构。Yet this is, in Hegel’s view, a stagnant, decadent Christianity, for it was an attempt to put a Christian veneer over structures that were already rotten to the core. 需要一个新的民族来实现基督教的最终宿命。It took a new people to carry the Christian principle to its ultimate destiny.
日耳曼世界
The Germanic world
也许有点奇怪，黑格尔竟然把从罗马帝国陷落直到近代的整个历史时期都称为“日耳曼世界”。It may seem strange that Hegel should refer to the entire period of history from the fall of the Roman Empire up to modern times as ‘The Germanic World’. 他使用的术语是“日耳曼的”（Germanische）而不是“德国的”（German），不仅包括严格意义上的德国，而且包括斯堪的纳维亚、荷兰甚至是不列颠。He uses the term ‘Germanische’ – ‘Germanic’ rather than simply ‘German’ – and he includes not only Germany proper, but also Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and even Britain. 我们将会看到，意大利和法国的发展也没有被忽视，尽管他在这里用“日耳曼的”一词把这些国家包括在内缺乏语言学和种族关系上的理据。Nor, as we shall see, are developments in Italy and France ignored, though here he lacks the excuse of linguistic and racial affinities for stretching the term ‘Germanic’ to include these countries. 我们也许会料想，黑格尔把这个时代称为“日耳曼世界”可能有某种种族优越感。但他这样做的主要理由是，他把宗教改革看成了自罗马时代以来唯一关键的历史事件。One might suspect a certain amount of ethnocentrism in Hegel’s designation of this era as ‘The Germanic World’but his chief reason for doing so is that he takes the Reformation as the single key event of history since Roman times.黑格尔把自罗马帝国陷落以来1000年的欧洲描绘成一幅黑暗的图景。Hegel paints a gloomy picture of Europe during the thousand years that passed after the fall of Rome. 他认为在此期间，教会已经成为真正宗教精神的一种堕落，它把自己强行置于人与精神世界之间，坚持要信奉者们盲目地服从。During that time the Church, in his view, became a perversion of the true religious spirit, inserting itself between man and the spiritual world, and insisting on blind obedience from its followers. 用黑格尔的话来说，中世纪是“一个多事而可怕的漫长黑夜”。The Middle Ages is, in Hegel’s words, ‘a long, eventful and terrible night’ 文艺复兴结束了这个黑夜，“漫长的暴风雨过后，黎明的曙光第一次预示了光辉灿烂的白天再次来临”。a night which is ended by the Renaissance, ‘that blush of dawn which after long storms first betokens the return of a bright and glorious day’. 然而，黑格尔所说的我们现时代明媚天空中“普照万物的太阳”是宗教改革而不是文艺复兴。It is the Reformation, however, and not the Renaissance which Hegel describes as ‘the all-enlightening Sun’ of the bright day that is our modern time.宗教改革缘于教会的腐败。在黑格尔看来，产生这种腐败并非偶然，而是教会不把上帝当作纯精神的事物、反在物质世界中体现他的必然结果。The Reformation resulted from the corruption of the Church, a corruption that was in Hegel’s view not an accidental development but a necessary consequence of the fact that the Church does not treat the Deity as a purely spiritual thing, but instead embodies it in the material world. 它的基础是礼节、仪式和其他外在形式，遵守这些被视为宗教生活的本质。Ceremonial observances, rituals, and other outward forms are its basis; and compliance with them is what it takes as essential to the religious life. 就这样，人类的精神要素被禁锢于纯粹的物质对象之中。Thus the spiritual element in human beings is fettered to mere material objects. 这种根深蒂固的腐败的最终表现，就是为了最世俗的金钱去出售某种涉及人类最深刻和最内在本性的东西，即由赦罪所带来的灵魂安宁。The ultimate expression of this deep-seated corruption is the practice of selling, for that most worldly of objects, money, something that concerns man’s deepest and inmost nature – the spiritual peace brought by the remission of sins. 黑格尔当然是指引发路德抗议的出售“赎罪券”的做法。Hegel is of course referring to the practice of selling ‘indulgences’ which started Luther’s protest.黑格尔视宗教改革为日耳曼民族的一项成就，认为它源于“其内心的坦诚和质朴”。Hegel sees the Reformation as an achievement of the Germanic people, arising from ‘the honest truth and simplicity of its heart’. 在黑格尔看来，“质朴”和“内心”是宗教改革的基调。‘Simplicity’ and ‘heart’ are for Hegel the keynotes of the Reformation,宗教改革是由一位质朴的德国修士路德发起的，而且只在日耳曼国家扎下了根。 which was begun by the simple German monk, Luther, and took root only in the Germanic nations. 它废除了罗马天主教会的浮华和仪式，认为每个人内心之中都有一种与基督的直接精神联系。Its result was to do away with the pomp and circumstance of the Roman Catholic Church and to substitute the idea that each individual human being has, in his own heart, a direct spiritual relationship to Christ.
然而，如果把宗教改革看成某个被称为“宗教”的孤立生活领域中的一个事件，那将与黑格尔对宗教改革的看法完全相反。It would be quite contrary to Hegel’s view of the Reformation, however, to present it as an event within some isolated sphere of life labelled ‘religion’. 一方面，黑格尔总是强调我们历史发展的不同方面之间的内在关联；For one thing, Hegel always stresses the interrelatedness of different aspects of our historical development. 另一方面，正如我们已经看到的，人类要想实现其精神本性，仅仅完善其宗教生活是不够的，还必须把他们生活的世界变得与自由精神相适应。For another, as we have already seen, for humans to fulfil their spiritual nature it is not enough for them to perfect their religious life; they must also make the world in which they live something suitable for free spiritual beings. 因此黑格尔认为，宗教改革远不只是抨击旧的教会并用新教取代了罗马天主教。Thus Hegel sees the Reformation as much more than an attack on the old Church, and the replacement of Roman Catholicism by Protestantism. 宗教改革宣称，每一个人都能认识到其自身精神本性的实质，并能获得自身的拯救。The Reformation proclaims that every human being can recognize the truth of his or her own spiritual nature, and can achieve his or her own salvation. 无须外在的权威来诠释《圣经》等圣典，也无须举行仪式，No outside authority is needed to interpret the scriptures, or to perform rituals. 个人的良知便是真理和善的最终仲裁者。The individual conscience is the ultimate judge of truth and goodness. 在断言这一点时，宗教改革展开了“自由精神的旗帜”，并宣告了它的根本原则：“人天性就注定是自由的。”In asserting this, the Reformation unfurls ‘the banner of Free Spirit’ and proclaims as its essential principle: ‘Man is in his very nature destined to be free.’
马丁·路德（1483-1546）
自宗教改革以来，历史的任务不过是按照这个根本原则来改变世界。Since the Reformation, the role of history has been nothing but the transforming of the world in accordance with this essential principle. 这项任务并不小，因为如果每个人都能自由地运用理性的力量去判断真理和善，那么只有符合理性标准，世界才能得到普遍赞同。This is no small task, for if every human being is freely able to use his powers of reasoning to judge truth and goodness, the world can only receive universal assent when it conforms with rational standards. 因此，必须使所有社会制度——包括法律、财产、社会道德、政府、政体等等——符合理性的普遍原则。Therefore all social institutions – including law, property, social morality, government, constitutions, and so on – must be made to conform to general principles of reason. 只有到那时，个人才能自由地选择接受和支持这些制度。Only then will individuals freely choose to accept and support these institutions. 只有到那时，法律、道德和政府才不再是自由的主体不得不服从的任意规定和权力。Only then will law, morality, and government cease to be arbitrary rules and powers which free agents must be compelled to obey. 只有到那时，人类才将是自由的，并与他们生活的世界完全地和谐一致。Only then will human beings be free and yet fully reconciled with the world in which they live.要使所有社会制度都与理性的普遍原则相符合，这听起来像是启蒙运动的主张。This notion of making all social institutions conform to general principles of reason has about it the ring of the Enlightenment. 让一切事物服从于清晰冷静的理性之光，拒绝接受任何基于迷信或世袭特权的东西，这正是伏尔泰、狄德罗等18世纪法国思想家的学说。To subject everything to the clear cold light of reason, rejecting all that has its basis in superstition or hereditary privilege, was the doctrine of French thinkers of the eighteenth century like Voltaire and Diderot. 在黑格尔叙述的世界历史中，启蒙运动以及继之而来的法国大革命的确是下一个——几乎是最后一个——事件。The Enlightenment and its sequel, the French Revolution, are indeed the next – and almost the last – events in Hegel’s account of world history; 但黑格尔对法国大革命的态度并不完全符合他对宗教改革本质的评论给人的预期。but Hegel’s attitude towards it is not quite what his remarks about the essence of the Reformation might lead one to expect.
黑格尔认为，法国大革命源于法国哲学家对现存阶层的批判。Hegel accepts the view that the French Revolution was the result of the criticisms of the existing order made by French philosophers. 大革命之前的法国有一批贵族，他们没有实权，却享有大量毫无理性基础的特权。France before the Revolution had a nobility without real power, but with a confused mass of privileges which had no rational basis. 针对这种完全非理性的事态，哲学家们的人权观念得到认可并取得了胜利。Against this utterly irrational state of affairs the philosophers’ conception of the Rights of Man asserted itself, and triumphed. 黑格尔明确指出，他认为这一事件具有重要意义。Hegel leaves us in no doubt as to his view of the significance of this event.
自从太阳处于天穹，行星围绕着它旋转以来，人类从未察觉到，人的生存以他的头脑即思想为中心，并且在其启发下构筑现实世界。……Never since the sun has stood in the firmament and the planets revolved around it had it been perceived that man’s existence centres in his head, i.e. in thought, inspired by which he builds up the world of reality … 直到现在，人类才进而认识到这条原则，即思想应当统治精神实在。not until now had man advanced to the recognition of the principle that thought ought to govern spiritual reality. 因此这是一个光辉灿烂的精神黎明。一切有思想的存在都分享了这个新纪元的欢欣。This was accordingly a glorious mental dawn. All thinking beings shared in the jubilation of this epoch.然而，这个“光辉灿烂的精神黎明”的直接后果却是大革命的恐怖。这种形式的暴行没有法律手续便行使权力，并用断头台上的瞬间毙命作为惩罚。Yet the immediate result of this ‘glorious mental dawn’ was the Revolutionary Terror, a form of tyranny which exercised its power without legal formalities and inflicted as its punishment the quick death of the guillotine. 是什么地方出了错？错误就在于试图施行纯粹抽象的哲学原则，而没有考虑人民的意向。What had gone wrong? The mistake was to attempt to put into practice purely abstract philosophical principles, without regard to the disposition of the people. 这种做法乃是基于对理性角色的误解。 理性绝不能脱离现存共同体和组成它的人民来使用。This attempt was based upon a misunderstanding of the role of reason, which must not be applied in isolation from the existing community and the people that make it up.
因此，法国大革命本身是一种失败。The French Revolution itself was thus a failure. 然而，其世界历史意义却在于它传播到其他国家，特别是德国的那些原则。Its world-historical significance, however, lies in the principles it passed on to other nations, and particularly to Germany. 拿破仑的短暂胜利足以给德国带来权利法典，使之建立起个人自由和所有权自由，使最有才能的公民担任国家公职，并废除封建义务。The short-lived victories of Napoleon were sufficient to bring about within Germany a code of rights, to establish freedom of the person and freedom of property, to open the offices of the state to the most talented citizens and to abolish feudal obligations. 君主仍然处于政府的顶端，其个人决定是最终的裁决。The monarch remains as the apex of government and his personal decision is final; 但黑格尔说，由于有牢固确立的法律和稳定的国家机构，留给君主本人去决定的“实际上都不是大事”。yet because of the firmly established laws and settled organization of the state, what is left to the personal decision of the monarch is, says Hegel, ‘in point of substance, no great matter’.黑格尔对世界历史的叙述现在已经到了他自己的时代，所以也行将结束。Hegel’s account of world history has now reached his own times, and so it comes to an end. 他在结尾时（以略为不同的表述）重复了他在全书开头所引入的主题——“世界历史不过是自由观念的发展罢了”，并暗示自由观念的进步现已达到顶点。He concludes by repeating (in slightly different words) the theme he introduced at the start of it all – ‘the history of the world is nothing but the development of the idea of freedom’ – and suggesting that the progress of the idea of freedom has now reached its consummation. 所需要的有两方面：一是个人应当根据自己的良知和信念来管理自己，What was required was both that individuals should govern themselves according to their own conscience and convictions, 二是客观世界即那个有着各种社会政治制度的现实世界也应当合理地组织起来。and also that the objective world, that is the real world with all its social and political institutions, should be rationally organized.仅有根据自己的良知和信念来管理自己的个人是不够的，那还只是“主观的自由”。It would not be sufficient to have individuals governing themselves according to their own conscience and convictions. This would be only ‘subjective freedom’. 只要客观世界还没有被合理地组织起来，根据自己的良知去行动的个人就会与它的法律和道德发生冲突。As long as the objective world was not rationally organized, individuals acting in accordance with their own conscience would come into conflict with its law and morality. 因此，现有的法律和道德将会反对他们并限制其自由。Existing law and morality would therefore be something opposed to them, and a limit upon their freedom. 而一旦客观世界被合理地组织起来，根据自己良知行事的个人就可以自由地选择行为而与客观世界的法律和道德相一致。Once the objective world is rationally organized, on the other hand, individuals following their consciences will freely choose to act in accordance with the law and morality of the objective world. 到那时，自由将同时存在于主观层面和客观层面。Then freedom will exist on both the subjective and the objective level. 自由将不再受到限制，因为个人的自由选择与整个社会需要之间将是完全和谐的。There will be no restrictions on freedom, for there will be perfect harmony between the free choices of individuals and the needs of society as a whole. 自由的观念将会成为现实，世界历史也将达到它的目标。The idea of freedom will have become a reality and the history of the world will have achieved its goal.
攻占巴士底狱，1789年，标志着法国大革命的开端
这一终结的确形成了高潮，但它留下了一个明显的悬而未决的问题。This is a climactic ending indeed; but it leaves an obvious question dangling. 对道德、法律和其他社会制度的合理组织会是什么样子？什么是真正合理的国家？What would a rational organization of morality, law, and other social institutions be like? What is a truly rational state? 在《历史哲学》中，黑格尔几乎没有谈及这个问题。In the Philosophy of History Hegel has very little to say on this subject. 他对当时德国令人鼓舞的描绘，以及同时给出的自由观念的进步已经达到顶点这一陈述，都只能意味着他相信自己的国家在他那个时代已经是一个合理组织的社会。His rosy description of the Germany of his own day, coupled with his statement that the progress of the idea of freedom has now reached its consummation, can only mean that he believes his own country, in his own times, to have achieved the status of a rationally organized society. 不过他并没有明言这一点，他对近代德国的描述太过简要，我们弄不清楚为什么他所描述的这些特殊安排要比之前的所有统治形式更为合理。He refrains from saying this explicitly, though, and his description of modern Germany is too brief to allow us to see clearly why the particular arrangements he describes should be more rational than all previous forms of government.之所以过于简要，可能仅仅是因为《历史哲学》是授课讲义。The reason for this brevity may simply be that the Philosophy of History was written as a course of lectures, 众所周知，大学授课在临近课程结束时往往会发现时间不够。and university lecturers, as we all know, frequently find themselves short of time near the end of the course; 但同样有可能，黑格尔在《历史哲学》中有意极少谈及这一主题，因为这乃是其《法哲学原理》的主要焦点。but it is equally possible that Hegel deliberately said little about this subject in the Philosophy of History, because it is the chief focus of his Philosophy of Right. 为了更完整地刻画黑格尔所理解的那种合理组织的因而是真正自由的共同体，我们必须转向这部著作。It is to this work that we must turn for a more complete picture of what Hegel takes to be a rationally organized and hence genuinely free community.
