Baoai Xi And Western Anti-tyrant Thought,

Etienne de la Boetie (1530-1563) was the French political philosopher in the sixteenth century. His idea was mostly centralized in the "The Politics of Obedience: The Discourse of Voluntary Servitude". As the representative of the bourgeoisie in the Anti-Monarchic, Boetie's theory of againsting the tyrant was particular. His theory implicated the idea of Human Rights, democracy, civil disobedience and so on. These ideas established the foundation for the development of French and even European political thought. This article tries to evaluate Boetie' place in the history of western political thought objectively by systematic studying his theory of against the tyrant.In the Western Europe of sixteenth century, the capitalistic production relation was already established inside the feudal society, and the nation-state and nation-church were constituted as well. The power of the new capitalist class was very weak. They needed the sustaining and protection of kingship. So supporting or opposing the royalty became the focus of political thought. The absolute monarchy of France was highly developed, and the king was the symbol of peace, order and unity. In this social and historical condition, Boetie revealed profoundly the essential of the institution of absolute monarchy. Through the method of historical and experiential analyze, Boetie explored the reason of tyranny and the root of servitude. He pointed out for the people to cast off servitude and to resume liberty.Firstly, Boetie thought man was all by nature free, and had equal natural rights. Reason was the only guide. The power of tyrant was stemmed from the natural rights of people. So the agreement of people was the basic reason of servitude. Secondly, no matter how the king received power by force, by inheritance or by election of people, as long as he possessed the power alone, he was bound to be a tyrant. Force and deception made the people enslaved, and as the time passed, custom became the first reason of voluntary servitude. At the same time, tyrant also used all kinds of means to cheat people accepting his governing willingly. Finally, since the power of tyrant came from the people's rights, so long as people ceased to submit to the tyrant, they could overthrow the tyranny and resume the liberty and equality. Boetie hoped to awaken the thirst and pursue for liberty of people by education, and made people abandon to submit to tyrant.Boetie opposed every institution of absolute monarchy by the idea of Human Rights. He presented a psychological interpretation of the basic reason of servitude.He transformed the activity of against tyrant from moral obligation to political right, and endowed this political right with all man. Boetie's theory not only became the powerful thinking weapon in the French revolution, but also established the foundation for the development of French political thought. So Boetie deserve to be called the founder of modern French political thought.