财富、支配与国家：亚当·斯密论奴隶制的废除与现代自由的基础

Abstract

Abstract: This article deals with Smith’s historical account of slavery. Although much scholarly attention has been paid in recent years to Smith’s judgement on the salutary effects of commerce on liberty and civilization, it has failed to address Smith’s account of the prevalence of social dependence in human societies， including the commercial society，while underestimating the intransigence of slavery and the contingent nature of modern European liberty. In Smith’s view，commerce could advance individual liberty and equality through the “descent of fortune”. By mitigating wealth gap and the monopoly of the means of subsistence， commerce could create important opportunities for the improvement of the living conditions of the lower ranks. Nevertheless， for Smith， social oppression has always been rooted in the human desire to dominate since the birth of government and has further evolved with the balance of property and power. By reconstructing Smith’s analysis of slavery， this paper shows that Smith believed that commerce alone could not achieve the universal revolution of violent passions in human nature and liberty could only be achieved by changing the distribution of wealth and political power. In ancient politics，commerce reinforced pre-existing slaveholding economy and social domination. However， in the fragmented political landscape of feudal Europe，commerce and luxury unintentionally contributed to the bankruptcy of feudal lords， which in turn led to the collapse of feudalism， the birth of absolutism and the abolition of slavery in a few regions. Equally important， however， is the fact that the vast rich feudal estates in other parts of Europe eased the financial crisis of the landowners， where commerce was unable to shake the balance of wealth and power， but instead reinforced social oppression once again. For Smith， only by delving into the role of commercial society in the change of political authority and observing the historical influence of commerce on the distribution of political power can we fully understand the prospect of the rule of law， justice， and freedom.

Key words: Adam Smith, Slavery, domination, commerce, modern state

ZHU Huahui. Wealth，Domination， and the State：Adam Smith on the Abolition of Slavery and the Foundations of Modern Liberty[J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2022, 42(5): 124-151.

References

洪特，伊斯特凡. 2016. 贸易的猜忌[M]. 霍伟岸、迟洪涛、徐至德，译. 南京：译林出版社.
曼德维尔，伯纳德. 2002. 蜜蜂的寓言[M]. 肖聿，译. 北京：中国社会科学出版社.
Alvey，James E. 2003. Adam Smith： Optimist or Pessimist? A New Problem Concerning the Teleological Basis of Commercial Society. Aldershot： Ashgate.
Bee，Michele. 2018. “Wealth and Sensibility： The Historical Outcome of Better Living Conditions for All According to Adam Smith.” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 25（3）： 473-492.
Bee，Michele and Maria Pia Paganelli. 2019. “Adam Smith，Anti-Stoic.” History of European Ideas 45（4）： 572-584.
Berry，Christopher J. 2018. Essays on Hume，Smith and the Scottish Enlightenment. Edinburgh： Edinburgh University Press.
Brett，Annabel S. 2011. Changes of State： Nature and the Limits of the City in Early Modern Natural Law. Princeton，Oxford： Princeton University Press.
Cropsey，Joseph. 2001. Polity and Economy： An Interpretation of the Principles of Adam Smith. South Bend： St. Augustine’s Press.
Davis，David Brion. 1999. The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution，1770-1823. NY & Oxford： Oxford University Press.
Dickey， Laurence W. 2004. “Doux-Commerce and Humanitarian Values： Free Trade， Sociability and Universal Benevolence in Eighteenth-Century Thinking.” In Grotius and the Stoa， edited by Hans W. Blom and Laurence C. Winkel. Assen： Van Gorcum.
Diderot，Denis. 1992. Political Writings，edited by John Hope Mason and Robert Wokler. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Dimand，Robert W. 1996. “Appendix： Adam Smith and the Late Resolution of the Quakers in Pennsylvania： A Response to a False Report.” History of Economic Ideas 4（1/2）： 266-269.
Douglass，Robin. 2017. “Morality and Sociability in Commercial Society： Smith， Rousseau-and Mandeville.” The Review of Politics 79（4）： 597-620.
Forbes， Duncan. 1975. “Sceptical Whiggism， Commerce, and Liberty.” In Essays on Adam Smith， edited by Andrew Skinner and Thomas Wilson. Oxford： Clarendon Press.
Force，Pierre. 2003. Self-Interest before Adam Smith： A Genealogy of Economic Science. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Funkenstein，Amos. 1986. Theology and the Scientific Imagination： From the Middle Ages to the Seventeenth Century. Princeton： Princeton University Press.
Griswold， Charles L. 2018. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith： A Philosophical Encounter. Abingdon & NY： Routledge.
Groenewegen，Peter. 2001. “Thomas Carlyle，‘The Dismal Science’，and the Contemporary Political Economy of Slavery.” History of Economics Review 34（1）： 74-94.
Haakonssen，Knud. 1981. The Science of a Legislator：The Natural Jurisprudence of David Hume and Adam Smith. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Haakonssen，Knud. 1996. Natural Law and Moral Philosophy：From Grotius to the Scottish Enlightenment. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Hamilton，Alexander. 2003.“The Federalist No.79.” In The Federalist，with the Letters of “Brutus”，written by Alexander Hamilton， James Madison and John Jay. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press：384.
Heilbroner，Robert L. 1975. “The Paradox of Progress： Decline and Decay in the Wealth of Nations.” In Essays on Adam Smith， edited by Andrew Skinner and Thomas Wilson. Oxford： Clarendon Press.
Hirschman，Albert O. 1997. The Passions and the Interests：Political Arguments for Capitalism before Its Triumph. Princeton： Princeton University Press.
Hont，Istvan. 2005. Jealousy of Trade：International Competition and the Nation-State in Historical Perspective. Cambridge， MA： Harvard Belknap.
Hont，Istvan. 2009. “Adam Smith’s History of Law and Government as Political Theory.” In Political Judgement： Essays for John Dunn，edited by Richard Bourke and Raymond Geuss. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.
Hont，Istvan. 2015. Politics in Commercial Society： Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith，edited by Bela Kapossy and Michael Sonenscher. Cambridge，MA：Harvard University Press.
Hume，David. 1983. The History of England from the Invasion of Julius Caesar to the Revolution in 1688，vol. 3，foreword by William B. Todd. Indianapolis：Liberty Fund.
Hume，David. 1987. Essays Moral，Political，Literary，edited by Eugene F. Miller. Indianapolis：Liberty Fund.
Hume，David. 2006. An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding，edited by Tom L. Beauchamp. Oxford： Oxford University Press.
Hume，David. 2008. A Treatise of Human Nature，edited by David F. Norton and Mary J. Norton. Oxford： Clarendon Press.
Hutcheson，Francis. 2004. An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue in Two Treatises， edited by Wolfgang Leidhold. Indianapolis：Liberty Fund.
Jones，Gareth Stedman. 2004. An End to Poverty? A Historical Debate. NY：Columbia University Press.
Levy，David M. 2001. How the Dismal Science Got Its Name：Classical Economics and the Ur-Text of Racial Politics. Ann Arbor： The University of Michigan Press.
Lewis，Thomas. 2000. “Persuasion，Domination and Exchange：Adam Smith on the Political Consequences of Markets.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 33（2）： 273-289.
Locke，John. 2003. Two Treatises of Government，edited by Peter Laslett. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.
Lovejoy，Arthur O. 1961. Reflections on Human Nature. Baltimore，MD：Johns Hopkins University Press.
Luban，Daniel. 2012. “Adam Smith on Vanity，Domination，and History.” Modern Intellectual History 9（2）： 275-302.
Kelly，Duncan. 2013. “Adam Smith and the Limits of Sympathy.” In The Oxford Handbook of Adam Smith， edited by Christopher Berry，Maria Pia Paganelli and Craig Smith. Oxford：Oxford University Press.
Macfie，Alec. 1971. “The Invisible Hand of Jupiter.” Journal of the History of Ideas 32（4）： 595-599.
Malebranche，Nicolas. 1997. The Search after Truth，edited by Thomas M. Lennon. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.
Mandeville，Bernard. 1988. The Fable of the Bees：Or Private Vices，Publick Benefits，edited by F. B. Kaye. Oxford： Clarendon Press.
McArthur，Neil. 2005. “Laws not Men：Hume’s Distinction between Barbarous and Civilised Government.” Hume Studies 31（1）： 123-144.
McLean，Iain. 2006. Adam Smith，Radical and Egalitarian： An Interpretation for the 21st Century. Edinburgh： Edinburgh University Press.
McNally，David. 1990. Political Economy and the Rise of Capitalism：A Reinterpretation. Berkeley & Los Angeles：University of California Press.
Montesquieu，Charles-Louis. 1968. The Greatness of the Romans and Their Decline，translated by D. Lowenthal. Ithaca， NY： Cornell University Press.
Montesquieu，Charles-Louis. 1989. The Spirit of the Laws， translated and edited by A. M. Cohler， B. C. Miller and H. S. Stone. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Muthu， Sankar. 2008. “Adam Smith’s Critique of International Trading Companies： Theorizing ‘Globalization’ in the Age of Enlightenment.” Political Theory 36（2）： 185-212.
Pack，Spencer J. 1996. “Slavery，Adam Smith’s Economic Vision and the Invisible Hand.” History of Economic Ideas 4（1/2）： 253-269.
Peart，Sandra J. and David M. Levy. 2008. “Attitudes toward Race，Hierarchy，and Transformation in the Nineteenth Century： The Role of the Expert.” In The Street Porter and the Philosopher： Conversations on Analytical Egalitarianism，edited by Sandra J. Peart and David M. Levy. Ann Arbor： The University of Michigan Press：239-258.
Phillipson，Nicholas. 1983. “Adam Smith as Civic Moralist.” In Wealth and Virtue： The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment，edited by Istvan Hont and Michael Ignatieff. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Phillipson，Nicholas. 2000. “Language，Sociability and History：Some Reflections on the Foundations of Adam Smith’s Science of Man.” In Economy，Polity，and Society：British Intellectual History，1750-1950， edited by Stefan Collini，Richard Whatmore and Brian Young. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.
Pocock， J. G. A. 1983. “Cambridge Paradigms and Scotch Philosophers：A Study of the Relations Between the Civic Humanist and the Civil Jurisprudential Interpretation of Eighteenth-Century Social Thought.” In Wealth and Virtue：The Shaping of Political Economy in the Scottish Enlightenment， edited by Istvan Hont and Michael Ignatieff. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Pocock， J. G. A. 1999. Barbarism and Religion II： Narratives of Civil Government. NY：Cambridge University Press.
Pufendorf，Samuel. 1994. The Political Writings of Samuel Pufendorf， edited by Craig L. Carr， translated by Michael J. Seidler. New York： Oxford University Press.
Rasmussen，Dennis. 2008. The Problems and Promise of Commercial Society：Adam Smith’s Response to Rousseau. Pennsylvania：Pennsylvania State University Press.
Rothschild，Emma. 1992. “Adam Smith and Conservative Economics.” The Economic History Review 45（1）：74-96.
Rothschild，Emma. 2002. Economic Sentiments：Adam Smith，Condorcet，and the Enlightenment. Cambridge，MA：Harvard University Press.
Rothschild，Emma. 2004. “Global Commerce and the Questions of Sovereignty in the Eighteenth-Century Provinces.” Modern Intellectual History 1（1）： 3-25.
Rousseau，Jean-Jacques. 1997. The Discourses and Other Early Political Writings，translated and edited by Victor Gourevitch. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Sagar，Paul. 2018. The Opinion of Mankind：Sociability and the Theory of the State from Hobbes to Smith. Princeton，NJ：Princeton University Press.
Sagar，Paul. 2021. “Adam Smith and the Conspiracy of the Merchants.” Global Intellectual History 6（4）： 463-483.
Salter，John. 1992. “Adam Smith on Feudalism，Commerce and Slavery.” History of Political Thought 13（2）： 219-241.
Sebastiani，Silvia. 2013. The Scottish Enlightenment： Gender，Race，and the Limits of Progress. NY： Palgrave MacMillan.
Smith，Adam. 1976a. An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations，edited by R. H. Campbell and A. S. Skinner. Oxford： Oxford University Press.
Smith，Adam. 1976b. The Theory of Moral Sentiments，edited by D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie. Oxford： Oxford University Press.
Smith，Adam. 1978. Lectures on Jurisprudence，edited by R. L. Meek， D. D. Raphael and A. L. Macfie. Oxford：Oxford University Press.
Smith，Adam. 1980. Essays on Philosophical Subjects，edited by W. P. D. Wightman. Oxford：Oxford University Press.
Smith，Adam. 1983. Lectures on Rhetoric and Belles Lettres，edited by J. C. Bryce. Oxford：Oxford University Press.
Smith，Adam. 1987. The Correspondence of Adam Smith，edited by Ernest Campbell Mossner and Ian Simpson Ross. Oxford：Oxford University Press.
Smith，Craig. 2006. Adam Smith’s Political Philosophy：The Invisible Hand and Spontaneous Order. Abingdon： Routledge.
Stein，Peter. 2009. Legal Evolution： The Story of an Idea. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.
Stewart，Dugald.1854.“Dissertation：Exhibiting the Progress of Metaphysical，Ethical，and Political Philosophy，Since the Revival of Letters in Europe （I part 1815，II part 1821）.” In The Collected Works of Dugald Stewart， 11 vols，edited by William Hamilton. Edinburgh：T. & T. Clarck：293-294.
Stewart，Dugald. 1980. “Account of the Life and Writings of Adam Smith，L L. D.” In Essays on Philosophical Subjects， written by Adam Smith， edited by W. P. D. Wightman. Oxford： Oxford University Press.
Susato，Ryu. 2015. Hume’s Sceptical Enlightenment. Edinburgh：Edinburgh University Press.
Tuck，Richard. 1993. Philosophy and Government，1572-1651. Cambridge： Cambridge University Press.
Turgot，Anne-Robert-Jacques. 1898. Reflections on the Formation and the Distribution of Riches， translated by William J. Ashley. NY： The Macmillan Co.
Weingast，Barry R. 2020. “Persistent Inefficiency：Adam Smith’s Theory of Slavery and Its Abolition in Western Europe.” In Adam Smith Review，Volume 12，edited by Fonna Forman. London and NY： Routledge.
Wilsher，J. C. 1983. “‘Power Follows Property’：Social and Economic Interpretations in British Historical Writing in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries.” Journal of Social History 16（3）： 7-26.
Wilson，Catherine. 2009. “Epicureanism in Early Modern Philosophy.” In The Cambridge Companion to Epicureanism，edited by James Warren. NY：Cambridge University Press.
Winch，Donald. 1978. Adam Smith’s Politics： An Essay in Historiographic Revision. Cambridge：Cambridge University Press.

[1]	CHONG Ming. The Idea of Nature in Montesquieu's Political and Social Thought [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2021, 41(6): 75-108.
[2]	LI Rongshan. Power and Ethics: Reason of State in Max Weber's Sociology of Domination [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2020, 40(3): 1-31.
[3]	CHENG Xiuying. The Circular State：A Case Study of the Symbolic Labor Governance System in Transitional China [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2015, 35(2): 192-217.
[4]	Liu Shiding. Stepping out of the “Public” into the “Private” Sector： An Analysis of the Infiltration of the Government into Local Chambers of Commerce [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2010, 30(1): 1-21.
[5]	Zhu Weijue. Symbolic Distinction and Power：A Discussion about Bourdieu’s Theory of Symbolic Domination [J]. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 2008, 28(3): 141-155 .

Wealth，Domination， and the State：Adam Smith on the Abolition of Slavery and the Foundations of Modern Liberty

RichHTML

PDF

Knowledge

Abstract

Cite this article

share this article

References

Related Articles 5

Recommended Articles

Metrics

Comments