ABSTRACT

This article examines the criticisms that Chicherin directed at the classical Western liberalism that emerged from the works of John Locke, Claude-Adrien Helvétius, Baron d’Holbach, and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the criticisms that can also be directed at modern Western liberalism. Following the early nineteenth-century German philosophers (Fichte, Hegel), Chicherin proves the falsity of liberalism’s philosophical foundations and, above all, the fallacy of its individualism. The latter assumes that the individual is not just independent of society and the state but also primary in relation to them, as well as a limited understanding of freedom that is reducible to an absence of external restrictions on human activity. As Chicherin shows, the stability of a state built on these principles can be ensured only by manipulating the consciousness of its citizens such that they are satisfied with their rulers. The Russian version of liberalism created by Chicherin and his followers is based on an understanding of the individual’s dependence on society’s spiritual wholeness, as well as on an understanding of freedom as man’s spiritual inner quality manifested primarily in his ability to create high culture. Russian liberalism views the state as a value equal to and complementary to the value of individual freedom, defining it as a way of organizing the life of a people that arises naturally in history and is independent of the will of individuals.

摘要

本文考察了奇切林针对约翰·洛克、克劳德-阿德里安·赫尔维修斯、霍尔巴赫男爵和让-雅克·卢梭作品中出现的古典西方自由主义的批评，这些批评也可以针对现代西方自由主义。继 19 世纪早期的德国哲学家（费希特、黑格尔）之后，奇切林证明了自由主义哲学基础的谬误，尤其是其个人主义的谬误。后者假设个人不仅独立于社会和国家，而且还与社会和国家有关，并且对自由的有限理解可归结为对人类活动没有外部限制。正如奇切林所示，建立在这些原则之上的国家的稳定只能通过操纵其公民的意识，使他们对统治者感到满意来确保。奇切林及其追随者创造的俄罗斯版本的自由主义基于对个人对社会精神整体性的依赖的理解，以及对自由的理解，即人的精神内在品质主要体现在他创造高雅文化的能力上。俄罗斯自由主义将国家视为与个人自由的价值相等并与之互补的价值，将其定义为一种在历史中自然产生且独立于个人意志的组织人民生活的方式。奇切林及其追随者创造的俄罗斯版自由主义基于对个人对社会精神整体性的依赖的理解，以及对自由的理解，即人的精神内在品质主要体现在他创造高雅文化的能力上。俄罗斯自由主义将国家视为与个人自由的价值相等并与之互补的价值，将其定义为一种在历史中自然产生且独立于个人意志的组织人民生活的方式。奇切林及其追随者创造的俄罗斯版本的自由主义基于对个人对社会精神整体性的依赖的理解，以及对自由的理解，即人的精神内在品质主要体现在他创造高雅文化的能力上。俄罗斯自由主义将国家视为与个人自由的价值相等并与之互补的价值，将其定义为一种在历史中自然产生且独立于个人意志的组织人民生活的方式。