POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY is the rational
examination and evaluation of beliefs about public purposes. One of
its primary methods is to clarify concepts, an activity that is
never completed, since the meaning of concepts is constantly
changing.
政治哲学是对公共目的信念的理性审视和评价。其主要方法之一是阐明概念，但由于概念的含义总是在不断变化，所以它是一种永远无法完成的活动。
The origin of political philosophy and its language is to be
found among the ancient Greeks. The word “philosophy” is made up of
two Greek words, which, in combination, mean “love of wisdom.” For
the Greeks the word “politics” referred to the activity of the
city, or polis, which was the dominant vehicle of political
life in their day. Political philosophy, as the ancient Greeks
understood it, could then be said to mean a love of wisdom
concerning the city.
政治哲学及其语言的起源在古希腊人中就有。“哲学”这个词是由两个希腊词汇组成的，结合起来，它意味着“爱智慧”。对希腊人来说，“政治活动”一词是指城市，或城邦的活跃状况，它是他们那个时代中政治生活的主要载体。政治哲学，就
像古希腊人理解它的那样，可以说意味着对城市智慧的爱。
The crucial question for ancient political philosophers was
the nature of justice. Modern political philosophers have been
concerned as well with the nature of human freedom, a citizen’s
obligation to obey the state, and a citizen’s right to participate
in the shaping of public policy. They have also examined such
questions as these: Is reason the basis of law? Can a political
community cohere without a transcendent ground of political
authority, such as the divine right of its king? Is there wisdom in
the common man? Does power corrupt? Are rights natural? How can the
rights of individuals be balanced against the rights of the
community? Is it possible to reconcile what “right” sanctions with
what “interest” prescribes? What is the greatest good for the
greatest number? Is the state, or race, or class, or other entity
the primary vehicle of historical change?
对古代政治哲学家而言，至关重要的问题是正义的本质。现代政治哲学家也关注人类自由的本质，公民服从国家的义务，以及公民参与制定公共政策的权力。他们还审视像这样的一些问题：理性是法律的基础吗？没有一种至高无上的政治权威基础，比如其国王的神授权力，一个政治共同体能凝聚起来吗？普通人有智慧吗？权力会腐败吗？权力是天然的吗？个人权力如何能与共同体权力相平衡？是否有可能将“权力”制裁与“利益”规定相协调？对最大多数人的最大的善是什么？国家、种族，阶级，或其它实体是历史变迁的主要载体吗？
Some political philosophers see politics as distinct from
morals, while others view politics as branch of morals. How the
philosopher looks at the phenomena of politics will be greatly
affected by which of these positions he adopt as his starting
point.
一些政治哲学家认为政治不同于道德，而另一些人则认为政治是道德的分支。哲学家如何看待政治现象，在很大程度上会受到他所选定的作为其出发点的这些立场的影响。
Ancient Greece and Rome.
The two towering figures of ancient
political thought were Plato and Aristotle. They wrote just after
the Greek polis and reached its apogee as a self-sufficient,
self-conscious political unit.
古希腊与古罗马。古代政治思想中的两位顶级人物是柏拉图和亚里士多德。就在希腊城邦之后他们开始写作，并作为一种自立的，自我意识的政治单元达到其最高点。
Of overriding interest to the ancient Greek political was the
nature of justice. In the Republic, Plato suggests that
justice, at least in part, is a social arrangement whereby each
person performs that function for which nature has best fitted him.
The result of such an arrangement is harmony in the city that
parallels the harmony of the well-ordered soul. Just as the soul
has appetitive, “spirited,” and rational parts, so does the city,
and they must be in balance. This is possible only if reason rules
and knowledge prevails over opinion.
古希腊政治最重要的是正义的本质。在《理想国》中，柏拉图认为正义，至少在某种程度上是一种社会安排，其中每个人都承担着大自然最适合他的角色。这种安排的结果是井然有序的灵魂和谐所对应的城市和谐。正像灵魂拥有欲望的，“精神的”和理性部分一样，城市也是如此，而且它们一定是平衡的。这只有在理性规则和知识胜过观点时才有可能。
Since Plato apparently believed with his mentor Socrates that
virtue is a consequence of possessing knowledge and also that
contemplation is the highest form of mental activity, he concluded
that the ultimate purpose of the polis was to make possible
the discovery of such knowledge and to be ruled by it. The
polis should be so ordered that the wisdom of the wise will
prevail. This leads Plato in the Republic to discussion of
the philosopher-king and in the Laws, a product of Plat’s
later life, of a Nocturnal Council of wise old men who indirectly
govern the polis.
因为柏拉图显然与他的导师苏格拉底同样认为，美德是拥有知识的结果，而沉思是精神活动的最高形式，他得出结论，城邦的终极目的是使发现这样的知识并受到其支配成为可能。城邦应该是如此地有序，因而智者的智慧必胜。这导致柏拉图在《理想国》中对哲学家-国王进行了讨论，并在《法律篇》中，一部柏拉图的晚年作品，讨论了间接统治城邦的聪明老人组成的夜间会议。
Aristotle, like Plato, considered politics a branch of
ethics. Moral reasoning is practical reasoning, leading to wise
decisions in contingent matters. His Ethics formed a
literary and philosophic companion piece to his Politics.
The good man, said Aristotle, can only be a good citizen in a good
polis. Since man is naturally formed to be a political
creature, he would have to be a beast or an angel to live outside a
polis. The naturalness as well as the goodness of political
life is a tenet of ancient political philosophy that stands in
contrast to much modern political thought.
像柏拉图一样，亚里士多德也认为政治是伦理学的一部分。道德推理就是实践推理，能在偶发的事件中做出明智的决定。他的《伦理学》与他的《政治学》形成了文学与哲学的姊妹篇。亚里士多德说，好人只有在好的城邦中才能成为好公民。因为，人天生就是政治动物，若想生活在城邦之外，他要么成为野兽，要么变成天使。政治生活的自然性和美德是古代政治哲学的原则，这与许多现代政治思想形成了对照。
Aristotle was an analyst of great perceptivity. In describing
the causes of revolution, the temptations of power, the varieties
of constitutions, the distinction between justice that distributes
goods and justice that punishes, he proved to be an able
sociologist as well as ethicist.
亚里士多德是一位极具理解力的分析家。在描述革命的原因，权力的诱惑，各种宪法，商品分配的正义与惩罚的正义之间的区别中，事实证明他是一位能干的社会学家，也是一位伦理学家。
Aristotle is considered to be more “realistic” than Plato,
not only in metaphysics, where he accorded physical reality a
status it did not have in Plato, but also in politics, where he
spent more time discussing the second-best polis and paid
more attention to the need for law. But though Aristotle labored to
differentiate himself from his master Plato, in political
philosophy Plato and Aristotle arrive to quite similar conclusions:
human beings are naturally political; the polis is the
highest form of human community; the highest political goal is the
just man in the just polis; the polis cannot exceed a
certain limited size without losing its character; the wise should
rule; and education, the dialectic method of reasoning, and
contemplation constitute the paths to wisdom.
人们认为亚里士多德相比柏拉图要更“现实”，不仅在形而上学方面，他赋予了一种柏拉图所没有的物理实在，而且在政治方面，他花更多时间讨论了居第二位的城邦，并更加关注对法律的需求。但是，尽管亚里士多德努力使自己不同于大师柏拉图，但在政治哲学方面柏拉图与亚里士多德都得出了非常相似的结论：人类天生是政治的动物；城邦是人类共同体的最高形式；最高的政治目标就是在正义城邦中的正义之人；除非失去了其特色，否则城邦不能超越一定的限定规模；智者应当统治；以及教育、辩证的推理方法和沉思构成了通向智慧之路。
The concept of Natural Law.
Concern for law is characteristic of all
Western thought, but belief in a rational law of nature has special
significance in the history of systematic political philosophy.
Although some think they find the roots of the theory of natural
law in Aristotle, developed theories of natural law can be regarded
as the chief contribution of the Roman Stoics. The Stoics are
perhaps best known for their ideals of self-denying duty and
self-sufficient virtue that is impervious to suffering. But equally
important is their doctrine that the universe is rational and that
rationality is an inherent part of every man’s nature. This
doctrine was the seedbed for the idea of universal brotherhood. The
doctrine could be embraced by the slave Epictetus and by the
emperor Marcus Aurelius. And though in some ways it seems ill
fitted to the confident, expansionist, militaristic Romans, its
universality did reflect their dreams of empire. It suited a period
when the polis had been replaced by an
imperium.
自然法的概念。关注法律是所有西方思想的特点，但对理性自然法的信念在系统的政治哲学历史中具有特殊的意义。虽然一些人认为他们找到了亚里士多德自然法理论的根源，但认为发展自然法的理论是罗马斯多葛学派的贡献。斯多葛学派最著名的也许是他们自我否定责任的理想和不受苦难影响的自立美德。但同样重要的是他们的学说，即宇宙是理性的，而且理性是每个人天性中固有的部分。这种学说是世界大同理想的发源地。奴隶埃皮克提图和皇帝马可·奥里利乌斯都能接受这一学说。尽管在某些方面它似乎并不适合自信、扩张主义、军事型的罗马人，但它的普遍性确实反映了他们的帝国梦想。它适合于城邦被帝国所取代的那个时期。
The Roman lawyer and statesman Marcus Tullius Cicero, whose
writings are modeled on Plato’s Republic and Laws,
presented a definition of natural law that endured throughout the
medieval period: the law of nature is “right reason,” which is “in
accordance with nature, applies to all men, and is unchangeable and
eternal.” Men may spurn its dictates, but they cannot annul it. Its
rules apply with equal force to both Athens and Rome.
罗马律师和政治家马库斯·图留斯·西塞罗，他的著作模仿柏拉图的《理想国》和《法律篇》，提出了一个贯穿中世纪的自然法定义：自然法是“正确的理性”，它“顺乎自然，适用于所有人，并且是不变的和永恒的”。人类可以藐视它的规定，但不能取消它。对雅典和罗马，其规则同样适用。
Although Roman law, like most law, evolved from local custom,
it could be argued, as it was by the 2d century jurist Gaius, that
the law of nature (jus natural) was not only to be found in
the great civil law of Rome, but was to be particularly identified
with the “people’s law” (jus gentium).
The latter was the law that Roman magistrates meted out the various
non-Roman peoples Rome had conquered. But later the jurist Ulpian
disagreed with Gaius’ close identification of the jus
gentium with the jus naturale. He argued that so long as
the jus gentium sanctioned slavery, it was in conflict with
the jus natural. Common to all these Roman jurists, however,
is the tendency to identify law with morality and politics with
power, to the detriment of politics. Such has been one of our chief
legacies from the Romans.
尽管罗马的法律，像大多数法律一样，是由当地的习俗演变而来，但就像公元2世纪的法学家盖乌斯所认为的那样，自然的法则（自然法）不仅在罗马的大民法中可以找到，而且特别是与“人民法”（万民法）相一致。后者是罗马地方行政官对被罗马征服的各地非罗马民族实施的法律。但后来的法学家乌尔比安不同意盖乌斯对万民法与自然法密切相关的看法。他认为，只要万民法认可奴隶制，它就与自然法相冲突。然而，所有这些罗马法学家共同面临的是将法律等同于道德，政治等同于权力的倾向，这有损于政治。这是罗马人留给我们的主要遗产之一。
The Middle Ages. If
philosophy began with the Greeks, law did not. Medieval as well as
more modern notions of the law certainly owe much to the Romans.
But they also derive from a completely different tradition, namely
that of the Hebrews’ idea of covenant, as in God’s covenant with
Israel through Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Moses the lawgiver
carries out the covenant, which involves rights and duties for both
parties to the covenant—God and man. The prophets of Judah,
suspicious of too powerful kings, expound political as well as
religious justice, as does the Book of Deuteronomy. This rich
heritage from Jewish political thought was blended with the Greek
by medieval writers, both by Jewish philosophers such as the 12the
century Moses Maimonides and by the Christian philosophers who
dominated the age.
中世纪。如果哲学起源于希腊的话，那么法律则不是。中世纪和现代的法律概念在很大程度上因归功于罗马人。但他们也是源于完全不同的传统，即希伯来人对契约的观念，如上帝通过亚伯拉罕，以撒和雅各与以色列的契约。立法者摩西履行了涉及契约双方的权力和义务---上帝与人的契约。犹大的先知们对于过于强大的国王心存疑虑，阐述了政治和宗教正义，就像《申命记》阐述的那样。这一源自犹太政治思想的丰富遗产被中世纪的作者们与希腊政治思想融合在一起，他们既有像12世纪的摩西·迈蒙尼德这样的犹太哲学家，也有像统治那个时代的基督教哲学。
The first major attempt to harmonize the classical heritage
with Christianity was made by the 4th—5th
century theologian and philosopher Saint Augustine of Hippo. He
Christianized Plato’s philosophy as Saint Thomas Aquinas was later
to Christianize Aristotle’s. Augustine also sought to find an
accommodation between Roman power and the Christian church. But
most importantly, in Augustine the whole conception of politics as
noble action was turned upside down by the concept of sin. Politics
becomes a necessary evil needed to restrain sinful man; the state
is conceived as a hospital for the sick. “True justice” (that is,
“God’s justice”) is not to be looked for in human
institutions.
第一个协调古典遗产与基督教的主要尝试是4世纪至5世纪希波的神学家和哲学家圣奥古斯汀进行的。他将柏拉图的哲学基督教化，就像圣-托马斯·阿奎那后来将亚里士多德的哲学基督教化一样。奥古斯汀还力图在罗马政权与基督教教会之间找到一种调和。但最重要的是，奥古斯汀作为高尚行为的整个政治概念已被罪恶概念所颠倒。政治变成了需要阻止有罪之人的必要之恶；国家被构想成一所病人的医院。“真正的正义”（换言之，“上帝的正义”）在人类的制度中是找不到的。
In the approximately 700 years that separated John of
Salisbury from Augustine of Hippo, there was almost no systematic
political speculation. This can be explained in part by the paucity
of classical manuscripts available during the so-called Dark Ages.
Even John of Salisbury had only meager fragments of classical
writings to consult.
在索尔兹伯里的约翰与希波的奥古斯汀相隔的大约700年里，几乎没有系统的政治投机。这在某种程度上可以解释为在所谓的黑暗时代是由于缺乏可用的古典手稿的原因。甚至索尔兹伯里的约翰也只有少量的古典作品可以查询。
In his Policraticus (The Statesman’s Book) John
realistically and carefully described the responsibilities of
rulers. He also made use of an extended organic analogy, in which
the common-wealth is likened to a physical body, with the prince as
its head, the senate its heart, the judges and governors its eyes
and ears, and the soldiers its hands.
在他的《Policraticus》（《论政府原理》）中，约翰现实且小心地描述了统治者的责任。他还使用了一个扩展的有机类比，其中共同财富比作一个肉体，王子是头脑，参议院是心脏，法官和总督是耳目，而士兵是手。
The importance to the course of political philosophy of the
13th century theologian and philosopher Thomas Aquinas
can hardly be exaggerated. He lived at a time when the works of
antiquity, preserved and commented on by such Arab scholars as
Avicenna and Averroes, were becoming available to Christian
Europe.
对于13世纪的神学家和哲学家托马斯·阿奎那政治哲学课程的重要性而言，怎么评价都不为过。在他生活的那个时代，当时由阿拉伯学者像阿维森纳和阿威罗伊保存并评论过的古代作品已开始为基督教的欧洲所接受。
Thomas tried to include all knowledge under one magistral
system in his great work Summa Theological. More optimistic
than Augustine, Thomas viewed the state not merely as a hospital
for the sick. He believed that man is naturally political and the
state is a natural institution, though the church is its superior.
The virtuous life is the proper aim of government, and rule by one
is preferable for the sake of its unity.
托马斯在其重要著作《神学大全》中试图将所有的知识都纳入一个权威体系。比奥古斯汀更乐观，托马斯认为国家不仅仅是病人的医院。他认为，人天生喜欢政治，而国家是一个天然机构，尽管教会是其上司。道德高尚的生活是政府的正当目的，出于政府统一的考虑，由一人统治更合适。
Law is defined as “… an ordinance of reason for the common
good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated.”
Thomas discusses four kinds of law: eternal (God’s will), natural
(the dictate of right reason), “divine” law (the Scriptures,
revealed positive law), and human law (legislation, decrees,
custom). The question arises as to how natural law, as the command,
that is, law that coerces citizens into behaving. For Thomas there
could be no essential conflict between them or between any of the
four kinds of law since he assumed that the universe was inherently
orderly, both physically and socially. Thomas also believed that in
law and politics, as in everything else, the movement of the world
is from imperfection to perfection.
法律被定义为“…由关心社会的他制定，并发布的为了共同利益的理性条例”。托马斯讨论了四种法律：永恒的（上帝的意志），自然的（正当理由的命令），“神圣”法（圣经，揭示的成文法），以及人类法（法规、法令、习惯法）。提出的问题是，作为命令的自然法，换言之，该法律如何强制公民的行为。对托马斯而言，在它们之间与四种法律的任何一种之间不存在根本的冲突，因为他假定了宇宙在身体上和社会上都是有内在秩序的。托马斯也相信在法律和政治中，就像在其它一切事物中一样，世界的运动都是从不完美到完美。
The 14th century author of Defensor Pacis,
Marsilius of Padua, separated law from morals and established civil
authority on naturalistic rather than transcendent grounds. The
so-called conciliar movement found its greatest thinker in the
15th century philosopher Nicholas of Cusa, sometimes
called the last of the medieval and first of the Renaissance
thinkers. He adopted the concept of natural law, but a natural law
shorn of the complicated network of Thomistic distinctions. He
advocated the principle of election in the councils of the church
and favored the election of priests by congregations. He bypassed
much traditional Scholastic theology, ignored hierarchical notions
of the cosmos, and even implied the relativity of man’s rational
judgments. In this way Nicholas shifted the course of thought from
qualitative speculation and introduced the possibility of more
extensive quantitative measurement.
14世纪，《和平捍卫者》的作者帕多瓦的马尔西利乌斯将法律与道德分离，并在自然主义，而非先验的基础上建立了民事权威。所谓的议会运动发现了它最重要的思想家，在15世纪，库萨的哲学家尼古拉斯，有时称他为中世纪最后一位和文艺复兴时期第一位思想家。他采纳了自然法的概念，但是一种剥离了托马斯式区分的复杂网络的自然法。他提倡在教堂会议上的选举原则，并支持由教堂会众选举牧师。他绕过了许多传统的经院神学，忽略了一统体系的等级观念，甚至暗示人类理性判断的相对性。用这种方法，尼古拉斯将思维过程从定性的推测中解脱出来，并引入了更广泛的定量测量的可能性。
Renaissance and Reformation.
It was another Italian who became the harbinger
of modernity: Niccolo Machiavelli, resident of turbulent Florence.
Heralded as a realist for seeing politics in terms of power,
Machiavelli is often credited with being the first modern political
theorist. His credo was: “ … for how we live is so far removed from
how we ought to live, that he who abandons what is done for what
ought to be done, will rather learn to bring about his own ruin
than his preservation.”
文艺复兴与宗教改革。另一位意大利人成为了现代性的先驱：动荡不安的佛罗伦萨居民尼可罗·马基雅维利。他因从权力的角度审视政治被誉为现代主义者，马基雅维利通常被认为是第一位现代的政治理论家。他的信条是：“…
因为我们生活的方式与我们应该生活的方式相距的是如此遥远，以至于他舍弃已做的事去做应该做的事，宁愿学会自取灭亡，也不愿保全自己”。
His famous Prince, written in the early
16th century, is a handbook of prudence for rulers, full
of crafty advice along with historical examples: One must be a fox
to recognize traps and a lion to frighten wolves; It is more
important to seem to keep faith than to keep faith; benefits should
be doled out piecemeal, but cruel acts should be swift; alliances
with stronger partners should be avoided.
他写于16世纪早期著名的《君主论》是一本统治者审慎的手册，充满了巧妙结合历史例证的忠告：要识别陷阱，人必须是狐狸，而要吓唬群狼，人必须成为狮子；似乎守信比忠于信仰更重要；福利应该一点点地发放，但严厉的法令应该迅速执行；应该避免与更强的合作伙伴结盟。
As a philosopher, Machiavelli is significant chiefly because
of the standard of morality he espouses, so different from that of
classical and medieval thought. There are even times when it seems
that Machiavelli took men not at their average but at their worst.
He took a perverse delight in what his friend Guicciardini called
the violent solution.
作为一位哲学家，马基雅维利的重要，主要是因为他信奉的道德标准，所以不同于古典和中世纪的思想。甚至有些时候，似乎马基雅维利采用的不是人类的平均水平，而是他们的最差水平。他在其朋友圭恰迪尼所称的暴力方案中获得了一种反常的快乐。
At the same time, Machiavelli believed in a united Italy, in
republicanism, and in a civilian army. He admired the ancient
Romans so much that it can be said he looked backward more than he
looked forward. The Renaissance was, after all, a revival of
ancient and pagan values. This is shown in his emphasis on the
challenge of fortuna, the female symbol of historical fate
or destiny, who must be alternately wooed and overpowered, and
virtu, which meant manly strength and ability as much as it
meant virtue. The 20th century Italian philosopher
Benedetto Croce called Machiavelli the discoverer of “the autonomy
of politics,” in the sense that politics is an art that can be
practiced for its own sake, and that the state itself could be seen
as a work of art. But even the literary gifts of Machiavelli could
not place politics wholly beyond moral judgment.
同时，马基雅维利相信一个统一的意大利，相信共和政治和平民军队。他非常崇拜古代罗马人，因此可以说他回顾过去要多于展望未来。毕竟，文艺复兴是古代和异教徒价值观的复兴。这体现在他强调对福尔图娜的挑战上，肯定是被交替追求和压制的历史命运或天命的女性象征，而virtu，意味着拥有男子气概的力量和能力，也意味着美德。20世纪的意大利哲学家贝内德托·克罗齐称马基雅维利发现了“政治自治”，从某种意义上说，政治是一门可为其自身实践的艺术，而国家本身可被视为一种艺术品。但即使马基雅维利的文学天赋也无法将政治置于道德判断之外。
Reformation political thought emerges in the 16th
century from Lutheran individualism and Calvinist collectivism.
Martin Luther’s interests were scarcely political, but the
political implications of his break with the Roman Church were
immense. Though he himself was a supporter of the entrenched power
of princes (many of whom were his allies in the fight with Rome),
his notion of an individual’s right to commune with God directly,
without the aid of any priestly mediator, and the related doctrine
of the “priesthood of all believers” had long-run democratic
implications.
宗教改革的政治思想形成于16世纪路德教会的个人主义和加尔文主义的集体主义。马丁·路德的兴趣几乎不在于政治，但他与罗马教会决裂的政治意蕴是巨大的。尽管他自己是根深蒂固的君主权力的支持者（他们中的许多人都是他与罗马战斗的同盟），但他表达的直接与上帝交流，无需任何神职调解人帮助的个人权力观念，以及相关的“所有信徒皆神职”的教义都具有长期的民主含义。
With the lawyer-theologian John Calvin there is a similar
kind of indirect political influence, but an influence moving in a
somewhat different direction. The collegiality of both his Geneva
church and the Geneva civil government rested on the theological
grounds that men, being sinful, could not be trusted with too much
power; but if government were made responsible by the systematic
check of fellow citizens, tyranny could be prevented and perhaps
virtue could be attained. This bore the seeds of a negative
argument for democracy, however restrictive Genevan rule actually
was.
律师-神学家的约翰·加尔文也有类似的间接政治影响，但是，是某种不同方向的影响。日内瓦教会和日内瓦国民政府的联合领导都建立在神学的基础之上，即人是有罪的，不能给予太多的权力；但如果政府经公民同胞系统的审视而负有责任，那就可能避免专横，也许就能获得美德。这为否定民主的理由埋下了种子，无论实际上日内瓦的规则有多么严格。
The Reformation was to have a different effect in the short
run, however. The religious wars between Catholics and Huguenots in
France in the 16th century left populations so depleted
and exhausted that a policy of toleration eventually won by
default. At the same time the power of essentially secular kings
expanded as the religious unity of Europe collapsed. The
theoretical rationalizer of this trend was the Frenchman Jean
Bodin, whose doctrine of sovereignty gave a medieval concept a
modern meaning. Sovereignty, the “absolute and perpetual power of
commanding in the state,” was the sine qua non of the modern
state, whether sovereignty was individual or collective. Though he
clung to some feudal conceptions of property, Bodin formulated a
theory of the state that rested on purely secular
bases.
然而，从短期看宗教改革具有不同的影响。在16世纪的法国，天主教徒与胡格诺派教徒之间的宗教战争造成了人口锐减和枯竭，以至于容忍政策最终以默认而获胜。同时，随着欧洲宗教统一的崩溃，本质上世俗国王的权力得到了扩大。这种趋势的合理理论解释者是法国人让·博丹，他的主权学说给予了中世纪概念一种现代含义。主权，“国家发号施令的绝对和永恒权力”，是现代国家的必要条件，无论主权是个人的或集体的。尽管他依恋某些封建的财产观念，但博丹明确表达了一种建立在纯粹世俗基础上的国家理论。
LEE C. McDONALD, Pomona College and Claremont
Graduate School
李·C.
麦克唐纳
波莫纳学院与克莱蒙特研究生院
2023年3月7日
（译者注：该部分词条位列《大美百科全书》1985年版，第22卷，第344页至346页）
待续部分：Theories of the Modern
Stat现代国家理论；Revolution and the End of
Political Philosophy? 革命与政治哲学的终结？；the 20
century 20世纪；Non-Western Political
Thought 非西方的政治思想。
