A Genealogy of the Modern State

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1、11Skinner168613/11/0913:52Page325BRITISHACADEMYLECTUREAGenealogyoftheModernStateQUENTINSKINNERFellowoftheAcademyIWHENWETRACEthegenealogyofaconcept,weuncoverthedifferentwaysinwhichitmayhavebeenusedinearliertimes.Wetherebyequipourselveswithameansofreflectingcriticallyonhowitiscurrentl

2、yunder-stood.Withtheseconsiderationsinmind,Iattemptinwhatfollowstosketchagenealogyofthemodernstate.Beforeembarkingonthisproject,however,Ineedtomaketwocautionaryremarksaboutthelimitationsofitsscope.Iassumeinthefirstplacethattheonlymethodbywhichwecanhopeconfidentlytoidentifytheviewsofs

3、pecificwritersaboutthecon-ceptofthestatewillbetoexaminetheprecisecircumstancesinwhichtheyinvokeanddiscussthetermstate.Iconsequentlyfocusasmuchaspossibleonhowthisparticularwordcametofigureinsuccessivedebatesaboutthenatureofpublicpower.TheotherlimitationIneedtosignalisthatIconfinemyself

4、exclusivelytoAnglophonetraditionsofthought.IdosoinpartbecauseIneedtobringmyhistoricalmaterialsundersomekindofcontrol,butmainlybecauseitseemstomethatanystudyofthechangingvocabulariesinwhichmoralorpoliticalconceptsareformu-latedcanonlybefruitfullypursuedbyexaminingthehistoriesofindi-

5、viduallinguisticcommunities.Toattemptabroaderanalysiswouldbetoassumethatsuchtermsaslostato,l’ÉtatandDerStaatexpressthesameconceptasthetermstate,andthiswouldbetopresupposewhatwouldhavetobeshown.Hencetheseeminglyarbitraryrestrictionofmyhistoricalgaze.ReadattheAcademy,13May2008.Procee

6、dingsoftheBritishAcademy,162,325–370.©TheBritishAcademy2009.Copyright©BritishAcademy2009–allrightsreserved11Skinner168613/11/0913:52Page326326QuentinSkinnerToinvestigatethegenealogyofthestateistodiscoverthattherehasneverbeenanyagreedconcepttowhichthewordstatehasanswered.1Thesuggest

7、ion,stillwidelycanvassed,thatwecanhopetoarriveataneu-tralanalysisthatmightinprinciplecommandgeneralassentisIthinkmisconceived.2Iwouldgosofarastosuggestthatanymoralorpoliticaltermthathasbecomesodeeplyenmeshedinsomanyideologicaldisputesoversuchalongperiodoftimeisboundtoresistanysuche

8、ffortsatdefinition.3Asthege