Page 132 - 《社会》2022年第5期

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

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鄄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.
Keywords：Adam Smith，Slavery，domination，commerce，modern state

在人性的一般情形中， 掌控一个人生计的权力就相当于
掌控其意志的权力。
——亚历山大·汉密尔顿（Hamilton，2003）
—
一、 引论

在亚当·斯密的笔下，“看不见的手”常常指涉个人以某种方式非意
图地服务于特定共同目标的社会现象。 1 在 《道德情感论》（The Theory
of Moral Sentiments）中，该词曾用于解释贪婪的地主如何在无意间实现
了集体的保全：尽管地主基于“天然的自私与贪欲”攫取了广袤的土地，

1. 斯密也用“看不见 的手”理解古人 的自然 观念，比如，古人 认为电闪雷鸣等不定 期 的
自然现象源自“朱庇特看不见的手”（Smith，1980：49；Macfie，1971）。 关于“看不见的手”作
为一种史学方法的基本脉络，可参见冯肯斯坦（Funkenstein，1986：202-212）的研究。

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