从灵魂到身体——西方宪法哲学古今变化的一种分析.docx

从灵魂到身体——西方宪法哲学古今变化的一种研究 英文摘要
From Soul to Body
——A Study on the Shift of Western Constitutional Philosophy from Ancient Time to Nowadays
Abstract
The constitutional philosophy quests for the nature of constitutions, which stems from the human nature. Different understandings on the human nature through time have caused the gap between the classical constitutional philosophy and its modern counterpart, and the distinction between the two is best demonstrated in the great works of Plato’s Republic and Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan. The classical constitutional philosophy quests for the whole knowledge about the nature of constitutions, which would inevitably reach the domain of soul for it is the soul and only the soul that is open to the whole of human nature, closer than anything else. The soul itself consists of reason, spirit and desire. The order among them makes the constitution of soul. When reason takes control of spirit and desire, the constitution is believed to be the justest. And the just is called the natural justice, which exists in the soul of philosophers. Then the constitution of the soul decides the lifestyle of a person who would be the happiest and the freest and who would live the best life, when it is in condition of the justest. The city-state constitution is rooted in that of soul. It refers to the lifestyle of munity, which relied mostly on who was in leading position and what was the general pursuit. The best city-state constitution is that philosophers rule as kings .Philosophers were put onto the throne because it was the wisdom in his soul that ruled. The philosopher-ruling constitution is in accordance with the requirement for the perfectness of the human nature, and it is desirable; meanwhile, in favourable conditions, it is possible as well. By contrast, imperfect city-state constitutions are generally resulted from the corruption of the constitution of soul of the ruling class. Therefore, the utmost goal of classical constitutional phil