理性、制衡与统治：“国家作为机器”的意义和谱系

许松影; 黄雄英

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August 2025

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Citation: XU Songying and HUANG Xiongying. Rationality, Balance, and Domination: The Meaning and Genealogy of “The State as Machine”[J]. Academic Monthly, 2025, 57(7): 129-143. shu

Rationality, Balance, and Domination: The Meaning and Genealogy of “The State as Machine”

Abstract

“The state as machine” metaphor has a unique place in the history of modern political thought and among the theories of the state. Three genealogies of “the state as machine” emerged after the emergence of mechanistic philosophy in the seventeenth century: (1) the state as a rational machine that operates autonomously, as represented by Hobbes, Cameralism, and Max Weber; (2) the state as a complex machine of checks and balances on power, as represented by Montesquieu and the Federalists; (3) the state as a dynamic machine of class rule, as represented by Marxism. Clarifying the history of the development of “the state as machine” not only helps us to understand the metaphor's theoretical near-death and practical pseudo-death, but also prompts us to fairly examine its place in intellectual history and its contemporary significance.
- political theory,
- intellectual history,
- metaphor,
- state,
- machine
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  XIN Fangkun . Agile Governance for Grassroots Cross-boundary Challenges. Academic Monthly, 2026, 58(3): 91-101.
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  MA Xuejun . The Echoes of Yan Fu's Thought among Republican-Era Sociologists——Based on the Writings of Tao Menghe,Pan Guangdan,Lin Yaohua,and Fei Xiaotong. Academic Monthly, 2026, 58(3): 132-142.
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  LI Xiuyun , LI Yue . Educational Discipline and Political Construction: The Shaping of Sun Yat-sen's Textbook Media Image in His Youth. Academic Monthly, 2026, 58(3): 206-216.
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通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

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沈阳化工大学材料科学与工程学院沈阳 110142

Rationality, Balance, and Domination: The Meaning and Genealogy of “The State as Machine”

XU Songying
HUANG Xiongying

Abstract: “The state as machine” metaphor has a unique place in the history of modern political thought and among the theories of the state. Three genealogies of “the state as machine” emerged after the emergence of mechanistic philosophy in the seventeenth century: (1) the state as a rational machine that operates autonomously, as represented by Hobbes, Cameralism, and Max Weber; (2) the state as a complex machine of checks and balances on power, as represented by Montesquieu and the Federalists; (3) the state as a dynamic machine of class rule, as represented by Marxism. Clarifying the history of the development of “the state as machine” not only helps us to understand the metaphor's theoretical near-death and practical pseudo-death, but also prompts us to fairly examine its place in intellectual history and its contemporary significance.

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通讯作者: 陈斌, bchen63@163.com

Rationality, Balance, and Domination: The Meaning and Genealogy of “The State as Machine”

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