登陆注册
15424600000100

第100章 Chapter IV(10)

But,stated absolutely,it implies pure self-interest.Robinson Crusoe was responsible in the sense that if he did not work he would starve.And,if we could,in fact,mark off each man's separate sphere,or regard society as a collection of Robinson Crusoes,the principle might be applied.Each man should have a right to what he has himself 'created.'But when a man 'creates'nothing;when his 'environment'is not a desert island but an organised society,the principle must be differently stated.

'Responsibility,'indeed,always implies liberty --the existence of a sphere within which a man's fortunes depend upon his personal character,and his character should determine his fortune.But,as Mill can most clearly recognise,social responsibility means something more.One most 'certain incident'of social progress is the growth of co-operation,and that involves,as he says,the 'subordination of individual caprice'to a 'preconceived determination'and the performance of parts allotted in a 'combined undertaking.'(25)The individual,then,is part of an organisation,in which every individual should play his part.The over-centralisation which would crush him into an automaton is not more fatal than the individual independence which would be incompatible with organisation.The desirable 'responsibility'is not that of a Robinson Crusoe but that of the soldier in an army.It should be enforced by other motives than mere self-interest,for it affects the interests of the whole body corporate.Now Mill,believing even to excess in the power of education,included in education the whole discipline of life due to the relations of the individual to his social environment;and it is his essential principle that this force should be directed to enforcing a sense of 'responsibility'in the widest acceptation of the word.

V.POLITICAL APPLICATION

A similar doctrine is implied in his political writings,of which the Representative Government is the most explicit.The book is hardly on a level with his best work.Treatises of 'political philosophy'are generally disappointing.The difficulty lies,I suppose,in combining the practical with the general point of view.In some treatises,the 'philosophy'is made up of such scraps about the social contract or mixture of the three forms of government as excited Bentham's contempt in Blackstone's treatise.They are a mere juggle of abstractions fit only for schoolboys.Others,like James Mill's,are really party pamphlets,masquerading as philosophy,and importing obvious principles into the likeness of geometrical axioms.A good deal of wisdom no doubt lurks in the speeches of statesmen;but it is not often easy to extricate it from the mass of personal and practical remarks.Mill's treatise might suggest some such criticism;and yet it is interesting as an indication of his leading principles.Some passages show how long experience in a public office affects a philosophic thinker.Mill's exposition,for example,of the defects of the House of Commons in administrative legislation,(26)his discussion of the fact (as he takes it to be)that governments remarkable for sustained vigour and ability have generally been aristocratic,(27)and his panegyric upon the East India Company,(28)record the genuine impressions of his long administrative career,and are refreshing in the midst of more abstract discussions.I have,however,only to notice a general principle which runs through the book.

Mill starts by emphasising the distinction applied in the Political Economy between the natural and the artificial.

Political institutions are the work of men and created by the will.The doctrine that governments 'are not made,but grow,'would lead to 'political fatalism'if it were regarded as true exclusively of the other.In fact,we might reply,there is no real opposition at all.'Making'is but one kind of 'growing.'

Growing by conscious forethought is still growing,and the antithesis put absolutely is deceptive.Mill is striving to enlarge the sphere of voluntary action.He wishes to prove that he can take the ground generally supposed to imply the doctrine of 'freewill.'Institutions,he fully admits,presuppose certain qualities in the people;but,given those qualities,they are 'a matter of choice.'(29)In politics,as in machinery,we are turning existing powers to account;but we do not say that,because rivers will not run uphill,'water-mills are not made but grow.'The political theorist can invent constitutions as the engineer can invent machinery,which will materially alter the results;and to inquire which is the best form of government 'in the abstract'is 'not a chimerical but a highly practical employment of the scientific intellect.'The illustration is difficult to apply if the 'river'means the whole society,and the 'water-mill'is itself,therefore,one part of the 'river.'

The legislator is not an external force but an integral part of internal forces.

In the next place,Mill rejects a distinction made by Comte(30)between order and progress.Comte had made a distinction between 'statics'and 'dynamics'in sociology,which are to each other like anatomy and physiology.The conditions of existence,and the conditions of continuous movement of a society correspond to 'order and progress.'(31)Mill replies that 'progress'includes 'order,'and that the two conditions cannot give independent criteria of the merits of the institutions.

同类推荐
  • 白苏斋类集

    白苏斋类集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 望诊遵经

    望诊遵经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 四斗二十八宿天帝大箓

    四斗二十八宿天帝大箓

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 无言童子经

    无言童子经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 太上老君说了心经

    太上老君说了心经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 西游之龙战天地

    西游之龙战天地

    现代雇佣兵在玩虚拟格斗网游被天道招到西游时期成为最悲剧的官二代小白龙。天道:“你的任务就是打败鸿钧集团。”龙星皓:“能在强点吗?”天道:“好吧!整个先天三族都是你的靠山,天道也罩着你。”于是继承真龙血脉的猪脚开始了牛逼哄哄的造反大业,且看猪脚如何用实力诠释真正的龙族;而不是四海那种伪龙。
  • 贱妃难逃夜夜欢

    贱妃难逃夜夜欢

    一朝穿越,她竟成了蓝王的贱妃。本来威风八面的女子竟然沦为男人泄欲的工具,顺带被一群无知无畏的女人欺辱这让她如何心甘?小女子要上演古代版越狱!大概是她还不能适应猫和老鼠角色的转变,居然屡屡失手。一次又一次的凌辱,失了身,失了心,她应该如何逃离这个欲求无休止、将她贬低到尘埃里的王爷?
  • 鹿晗:好久不见

    鹿晗:好久不见

    在一个阳光午后,她遇见了他,从此,闯入了他的世界,再也逃不出来。不知为何,她离他越来越远,渐渐淡出了他的视野。多年后,又是一个阳光午后,他牵上她的手,微笑道:“好久不见。”
  • TFBOYS之雪域奇遇记

    TFBOYS之雪域奇遇记

    酷酷的王俊凯?萌萌的王源?高冷的易烊千玺?如果掉到了神秘的雪域大陆,就要通通sayno啦!他们在这里,收获了友情……也收获了……自己一生中的挚爱……接下会发生什么爆笑囧事呢?让我们一起来看吧!
  • 终极一家之另一个我

    终极一家之另一个我

    本书不入V,初步估计总字数达20万。某天,一个长得极像盟主灸舞的女孩子来了。她冷淡,安静,爱发呆,却可以为了他命都不要。魔界又出现了一股新的势力,实力雄厚,影响到整个魔界,魔尊狄阿布罗却对此不闻不问,放任不管。鬼龙鬼凤会有什么样的作为?西城卫南城卫又有什么作用?副盟主灸凌和鬼王鬼影到底有什么关系?魔界大军频频入侵铁时空又会带来怎样的后果?她自残身体,只为让他能活下去。她自愿堕落,只为给所有人一个交代。一个是他重要的家人,一个是他最大的敌人,他要怎么选择?留在心里的,除了那撕心裂肺的痛,还能剩下什么?
  • 浴火冰天狐

    浴火冰天狐

    这是一个不知从何说起的故事。他,七公子,是唯一拥有仙族血脉的一只拥有绝世容颜的冰山雪狐——冰天狐。他也是一个贪玩,好热闹,爱游山玩水,更爱多管闲事的热血青年。他还是一个仙界中最年轻有为且最受人瞩目的幸运星儿,他不但拥有江湖上至纯至阴的六尾仙法,还收养了痴,念,智,颠,萌,羞,蠢这七只调皮捣蛋,却又忠诚不二的男狐精灵。真可谓羡煞旁人。这是一段人狐绝恋的凄美颂歌。一切皆有定数。他贪玩任性,犯下弥天大错,仙界权威最高的天法皇一召令下,将他打入凡界。而他与陆小琪的故事才刚刚开始。洛阳城,白玄洞,紫云颠,凌烟阁,羚羊岭,白鸵山,七魔古刹,九天玄女……他所向披靡,无所畏惧,遇神杀神,除魔降妖,声名大作……
  • 时光许我爱你

    时光许我爱你

    (我现在只是单纯的不想写了,不是弃了哦,只是最近真的不想写了。)我从来只认为跟他轰轰烈烈的才叫爱情,却没发现在平平淡淡中我丢了我的心。
  • 天弑传说

    天弑传说

    苍茫天地,荒芜古域,无尽天武,铸就血色囚笼,共乘天罪诛罚。生命的怨咒,万灵的泣音。神魔佛圣,乱天动地,帝国圣院,血染苍穹。武之至尊,号为天武,唯有问鼎天武,方可问天破劫。天问,问天问地问苍生;问天,问佛问圣问鬼神。天武,是武之极致,还是宿命葬礼?当天降丧音,玄黄泣血,天武大陆又当如何抉择.......当天帝洛天,东圣皇神萧逸,西魔狂徒南宫恨天,北墓尸皇冥血,南疆古帝凌道寒天问身陨,一个自深渊挣扎逃脱的不屈少年,踏天崛起,问鼎天武,弑之天问,成就一段不朽传奇!
  • 最强星魂

    最强星魂

    史上最搞笑最热血玄幻小说——就这么简单,恭候各位读者驾临。
  • 异能特种军

    异能特种军

    中学被拉去实验的他,却发现一场事故给了他奇怪的力量,他貌似,拥有了异能……