《道德情操论·卷六·论德性的品质·二之二·论天性推荐给我们行善的社会次序》第9节
Some general, and even systematical, idea of the perfection of policy and law, may no doubt be necessary for directing the views of the statesman. But to insist upon establishing, and upon establishing all {208} at once, and in spite of all opposition, every thing which that idea may seem to require, must often be the highest degree of arrogance. It is to erect his own judgment into the supreme standard of right and wrong. It is to fancy himself the only wise and worthy man in the commonwealth, and that his fellow-citizens should accommodate themselves to him and not he to them. It is upon this account, that of all political speculators, sovereign princes are by far the most dangerous. This arrogance is perfectly familiar to them. They entertain no doubt of the immense superiority of their own judgment. When such imperial and royal reformers, therefore, condescend to contemplate the constitution of the country which is committed to their government, they seldom see any thing so wrong in it as the obstructions which it may sometimes oppose to the execution of their own will. They hold in contempt the divine maxim of Plato, and consider the state as made for themselves, not themselves for the state. The great object of their reformation, therefore, is to remove those obstructions; to reduce the authority of the nobility; to take away the privileges of cities and provinces, and to render both the greatest individuals and the greatest orders of the state, as incapable of opposing their commands, as the weakest and most insignificant.
注释摘要
这段文字是整个第六卷从社会次序到制度改革议题的收束，斯密在这里把前面铺垫的道德心理学直接延伸为一种政治审慎的学说。他面对的问题不再是个人如何判断邻人的情感是否合宜，而是一个更棘手的困境：怀抱公共精神的人，究竟该以什么态度对待自己心中关于完美法律与政策的那套设想。 斯密的论证起点很克制。他先承认治理者不能完全不要理念。一国之内权力如何分配、赋税如何设置、司法…