國家（天下）治亂大概是人類政治社會中的根本問題，而思考撥亂返治之道應該也是歷來政治思想家的根本煩惱。本文針對兩套思考和處理撥亂返治的思惟方式，探討其輕重本末之爭：以取得人民信任為依歸的「治道思惟」與以反專制之自由為重心的「政體思惟」。前者源於古中國，後者源於古希臘。本文重點之一在於呈現這兩套思惟的基本內涵；本文第二個重點是透過評論具有代表性之政治與經濟發展史的專著，嘗試說明做為當代主流的「政體思惟」，恐怕仍無法脫離「治道思惟」的要求。

The search for a stable and just order in a chaotic society should be the mother issue of political reality and political thought. There exist at least two models for conducting it. One, the “governing model,” originated in ancient China. The other, the “regime model,” can be traced to ancient Greece. Winning the trust of the people and defending peoples’ freedom against despotic power respectively reflect the core spirits of each model. Now owing to the great success of liberal democracy in the Western world, the regime model is usually presumed to be the only legitimate political model. Here I try to demonstrate that if the two models are to function well, they can only support each other. If not, both deteriorate and hurt the regime and the people in the end.