Page 125 - 《社会》2021年第5期

社会·2021·5

century. The concept of “social organism” first entered the discourse of Herbert
Spencer and his disciples to defend their individualistic notion of natural rights and free
competition against the power of the state. Later， Spencer’s critics formulated more
authoritarian interpretations of the concept， paving the way for the institutionalization of
public education， charity， urban governance and other public affairs. This eventually
led to the re鄄conceptualization of “social organism” by new鄄liberalists into a concept
that justified social reform， welfare system and state intervention. In the meantime，
“ social organism” gradually lost its multiple and fluid meanings， ending with a
dominant form of explanation that marginalized others. This intellectual event had been
successful in introducing the concept of “social organism”， previously alien to
liberalism， to the nineteenth -century liberal effort of imagining a more cohesive，
mutually鄄dependent society， while also enabling its intellectual participation in the
transformation of British society from an industrial kind glorifying laissez鄄faire
principles and individualsim， to a welfare society laying more emphasis on equity and
the state’s duty for the well鄄being of the citizens. This study adopts Quentin Skinner’s
“Cambridge School” method of conceptual history to examine the evolution of the
concept of “social organism” during the Victorian period. It serves the purpose of
providing a historical narrative of the shifts in the 19th century British liberal political
and social ideas.
Keywords：conceptual history， social organism， Victorian Social Reform， British
Liberalism， Herbert Spencer

“社会有机体”（social organism）是英国维多利亚时期政治和社会思
想中的一个重要概念。 它包含一个类比，即将人类社会描述和理解为自
然的有机体，例如，人、动物、植物或者一般意义上“有生命的有机体”
（ living organism）或“有机个体”（individual organism），认为社会在某些方
面具有与有机体相似的特征。作为一个概念的“社会有机体”，得到系统
化阐述是十分晚近的事（ Salomon，1923：138）。而作为一种观念和修辞习
惯的“有机体学说”（ organismic theories）和“有机类比”（organic analogy），
却几乎“和欧洲政治思想史一样古老”（Barnes，1926：123；Freeden，2011：
92）。 从柏拉图和亚里士多德对政治体的有机特性的阐述， 西塞罗、李
维、塞涅卡和圣保罗等古罗马哲学家的“有机体类比”，到中世纪的基督

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