「近代」をどう見るか

抄録

This comment, firstly, summarizes the nine presentations: Six presenters analyzed legal thinkers who founded the modern way of thinking, while other three analyzed legal thinkers critical of modernity. All nine speakers, however, share a common image of modernity in legal ideas; They presuppose independent individuals who form social institutions based on their rational calculation. Secondly, this comment argues who the first typical modern social thinkers should be ; From this perspective, the line Hobbes - Mandeville - Adam Smith - Hume - Bentham is most important, because they all constructed social theory based upon self-love, which had been rejected since the Greek Antiquity. Thirdly, this comment argues that we should also value the Machiavel lian Humanism, whose pluralistic-dialectical way of thinking had been an important counterpart to the Cartesian-Hobbesian scientific modernity. Lastly, this comment argues that we should evaluate the pre-modern traditions that contributed to the formation of modern social thinking. In order to make this point clear, this comment traces the history of the idea of liberty since the Greek Antiquity, analyzing how pre-modern liberties (the Greco-Roman liberty, the Christian freedom, the liberties of the Middle-Ages) underlie the modern liberty.