This paper is about Friedrich Meinecke’s research on the concept of "reason of state". Friedrich Meinecke is the last representative of the German historicism school, which emerged in the context of Napoleon’s invasion into Germany, possessing the characteristics of national- focus, anti-norms and anti-concept. The paper summarizes the essence of Meinecke’s "reason of state" as "country supreme", which is the successor of German nationalism and historicism tradition, and accords with the narrow connotation of "reason of state". However, Meinecke’s thought also contains the pursuit of nation’s mental side, which belongs to the general connotation of "reason of state ". The part of flash in Meinecke’s thought is his whole life’s endeavor to reconcile the contradictions between power and morality, and his attempt to limit the excessive power. Nevertheless, "conscience" and "faith", put forward by Meinecke as the way to limit the excessive power, in fact are agnosticism of the neo-Platonic. His rejection of the concept of natural law and universal values set up limitations as relativism and nihilism.Due to the crucial status of Meinecke’s thought and inadequate research about it in the mainland academia, this paper tries to further promote mainland study about Meinecke’s thought, with exploring the evolution of Meinecke’s entire thought from the perspective of the concept of "reason of state".The first two parts of the paper briefly introduce Meinecke’s life and the German historicism trend, as well as the development of "reason of state" concept in Modem Europe. The next two parts are the core and innovative point of the paper. Meinecke’s concept of "reason of state" can be divided into three stages by the two world wars boundary, including "power and morality identity" "moral restricts power" "retain power and revive moral". This paper tries to explain its complex connotations via the stage study, and to prove the continuity of Meinecke’s thought. Furthermore, the paper reveals the essence of Meinecke’s concept of "reason of state" as "country supreme ", and makes a deep comparison with his contemporary thinker-Schmitt. The paper finally points out the limitation of Meinecke’s thought, and lays the solution as building the "constitutional reason of state ".Germany, the post-developmental country, whose "reason of state" is easily limited to the narrow connotation which only stressing national power whereas excluding freedom and democracy value. Nationalism once contributed to the self-defense and prosperity of the country, but with over emphasis it’s easy to degenerate into extreme exclusionism and absolutism. How to learn the lessons of German nation-building’s experience, to avoid the tragedy of the German and to explore a balanced way of nation-building, is the awareness of this paper. |