梭羅的「無感」政治哲學－－論其「個人國」之「權宜」政府政治與不服從論

Thoreau’s “Infra-human” Political Thoughts— On His “Reprivate” and “Expedient” Government Politics

不景氣中，人民急盼政府「有感」施政下，「無感」兩字在台灣也成了諷刺政府無能的流行名詞。但一百五十年前，美國文學詩人梭羅（Henry David Thoreau, 1817~1862）為相對有別於柏拉圖「理想國」(Republic) 所構想人類未來「完美與光榮國度」之「個人國」(Reprivate)裏，卻是期待一「無感」政府的出現：「人民得對政府疏離，可不願介入或不受其擁抱 」。蓋梭羅直接觀察發現：對絕大多數人之生活言，政治並非他們的主要關切；真正佔據個人熱情與關心者，不外是他們周遭特定的人與事，而認為政府在人民生活中應是最「無感」（the fewest possible thoughts）的事情，「最好的政府是什麼都不管的」，才是「人類從民主再走到下一個更好的生活制度。」 當梭羅湖濱的「簡約樂活」固已為世人「生活美學」之指引；至於梭羅的「政治美學」為何？其實，梭羅除努力求取個人最高精神生活之路，他也尋求一比現今「立即且更好」之政府，由此創造最適人類永續生活之政治環境；只不過資本主義勢大，梭羅的政治理想總受烏托邦幻想或無政府思想之曲解。其實，梭羅仍有美國人的務實傳統，當資本政府專注人民「有感」之過度開發，帶來環境、金融的失衡、失序，梭羅設計一「無感」之最小政府論，尋求一後資本文明之準烏托邦社會或是下一個人類的前瞻性智慧吧！

This paper is to offer an insight to Thoreau’s long-overlooked perspective on politics and political philosophy and explore the government that Thoreau envisions as the ideal New England government. Thoreau’s fidelity to transcendentalism commits him to a different interpretation of his political philosophy, especially his views on government. Henry D. Thoreau（1817~1862）expresses his political philosophy most directly in “Civil Disobedience, “Walden”(1854), “Slavery in Massachusetts”(1854) and “Life without Principle”(1862). In “Walden” and other essays, Thoreau makes provocative statements that are definitive of his idealist position on government: for the most part, we do not encounter government, and for the most part, government does not matter. To appreciate Thoreau’s observation is to recognize how in fact we live from day to day within situations that are populated with specific people and things; but government, from the perspective of the living present, is an abstraction for which we have no mind –“the fewest possible thoughts”. The paper intends to provide a sketch of Thoreau’s “infra-human” politics in terms of his conscience ethics and show how this idealism provides the theoretical background of Thoreau’s “the Rule of Expediency” in order to create” the best government which governs not at all.