郭嵩燾的政治思想

The Political Thought of Guo Songtao

郭嵩燾認為一位聖君或一位賢相的統治雖好，不如公天下之既好而又長久。他觀察古今中外的政制，以印證他的思想。所謂公天下，在中國是讓更多的官員一起討論國政，與增闢地方紳士影響地方行政的管道，在西方君主國則是將國政交給選舉出身的紳士與世襲貴族來決定。
然而公天下與一人獨擅的差別，並不解釋西方國家與中國在治理上的優劣不同。不論是一君、一相、一督、一撫，還是眾官、眾紳，他們是否務為學問，考求實際，不虛驕自矜，才是治理良好與否的原因所在。
對事理的不同態度，形成一國之善氣惡氣，而又與天地之氣通為一體。乾隆以後中國由盛而衰，西洋後來居上，發生於同時，便是人感應氣而氣在東西方發生了轉移。
郭嵩燾活在惡氣當令的中國，選擇晚年致仕，在長沙組織地方社團，從一隅改變人心。謗滿天下的他，只有以私人力量在民間慢慢做起，冀以三百年後中國風俗變換一新。

For Guo Sontao, the rule of a sage-king or of a worthy prime minister is good, but the goodness of“an empire open to all”is more enduring. Constitutions that are both ancient and modern, both Chinese and Western, confirm his evaluation.“An empire open to all”in China means including more officials in collective decision-making, and bestows the local gentry with access to local administration, while its meaning in the Western principalities is to relegate power to an elected gentry and a hereditary aristocracy.
Since both the rule of one person and“an empire open to all”could be good, the source of bad governance lies elsewhere. An emperor, a prime minister, a governor-general, a governor, officials in a collectivity, and aristocrats and gentry in a collectivity all would rule poorly if they do not study science and investigate reality.
The attention to or the disregard of facts and reason can consolidate into good or bad qi nationwide, which is connected to the qi of the whole world. The decline of China and the rise of the West took place after the year 1800, which corresponded to the effects of people responding to the flow of qi, as the power of nations shifted between the two hemispheres.
With China dominated by bad qi, Guo retired at the age of 61 and founded a local society and a school in Changsha, aiming to refine human minds. Despite being a scholar-official facing scandals, he contributed his private efforts to improving a corner of China, the renewal of which in his estimate would take three hundred years to complete.