宗教與世俗的辯證──佛格森論歷史與自由

The Dialectics of Religion and Secularization: Adam Ferguson on History and Liberty

亞當佛格森為蘇格蘭啟蒙運動之重要文人，其思想邇來頗受學界關注。然時下之論多為世俗化觀點。本文有別於時論，揭論佛格森神學思想之重要。佛氏以為，此世界受命神恩，乃有持續變化進步之事實。人類之為獨特，在於受命自由意志。人若能依據自由意志原則而主動成為上帝創世與目標之工具，人類社會即能持續變化進步。易言之，社會之歷史便能與自然之歷史合轍。同理，自由之義亦須以合作觀點加以理解。以合作觀點視之，自由之真諦不在個人權利的顯揚，而在社會整體之保存與進步。上帝所造之世界既有階級差異，而又協合共作，各人當因此各安其命，順命而為。佛格森所在意者，乃菁英階級須既能洞悉危機於先燭，理當自勉奮發，不受商業社會不良影響，隨時保持公民意識與責任。佛格森之政治保守主義，實有其神學思想基礎。

The resurgence of scholarship on Adam Ferguson in recent decades tends to portray this great literati of the Scottish Enlightenment as a secular thinker. This article argues against the current grain by revealing the importance of Ferguson's theological thinking. Discussing the complex interaction between religious and secular ideas in Ferguson's thought, this article argues that Ferguson conceptualized history as a two-tiered composition of natural history and social history in which human beings are situated right at the convergent junction of these two histories: they are simultaneously part of the natural history as made by God as well as the maker of their own social history. As part of natural history, humans are capable of progressing as individuals like any other animal. In terms of providence, humans are unique as they are ''created'' with ''reason'' and ''free will.'' Having been created by God, humans are destined to fulfill the purposes for which God has designed them. However, for this very reason, humans cannot foresee with certainty what ends they are approaching. Using the faculty of ''reason,'' however, they are able to conjecture-albeit only superficially and partially- the Mind of the Creator through observations of nature and history. Ferguson argues that the most conspicuous facts that God implicitly reveals to humans through his ordering of the world is the constant succession of life and progress of human society. God thus indicates his wish that humans coordinate their activities in society to facilitate the progress of society. Nevertheless, the social history of humanity clearly shows that many nations fail to progress in a continuous manner. This is due to the fact that God grants humans a free will to decide if they want to serve as an ''instrument'' in the hands of God to ''co-create,'' as it were, social history in accordance with the history of natural progress. Human social history is both a source of courage to establish progress and a lesson of failures and setbacks. Courage can be summoned from God's Providence that humans are destined to progress. As the lessons of social history reveal, however, humanity is also responsible for its own failures, because humans have a free will. Because Ferguson believes in the creation of humanity, and holds that the most moral way of acting is to ensure constant progress in society, he values the kind of liberty that is beneficial for the good of society, not the type of individual liberty or political freedom which gave life to the American and French Revolutions. This article discusses his repudiation of Richard Price's radical view of political freedom. Ferguson's antagonism to Price could already be found in his early contestations of Rousseau's view on history and politics, as Ferguson expounded upon in An Essay on the History of Civil Society. According to Ferguson, Rousseau's jurist view of equality in the state of nature implies a complete right to share power in a political society. Ferguson argues for a providentially destined social disparity that works as a mechanism of progress through the division of labor and the development of corresponding talents for different skills or labor. Unlike Price, Ferguson believes in elitism, where a group of enlightened elites can foresee the danger of a society and act in advance to prevent impeding disaster. In Ferguson's ideal vision of a ranked society and heroic leadership, Price's Lutheran political view that ''everyone is his own lawmaker'' sounds arrogant, if nothing else. In short, Ferguson holds that liberty is not for the preservation of individual empowerment, but for the preservation of society, as humans exist not for their own sake, but for God's providential plan.