身份政治:根源、挑战与未来

Identity Politics:Its Origin,Challenges,and Future

身份政治与承认和差异密切相关。在古典时代,承认被认为建立在血气和荣誉的坚实基础上,但它也在一个伦理化的等级秩序中得以安顿。相反,由于泰勒所说的"大脱嵌",个人主义的现代社会反而让承认问题变得更为严峻。试图以平等的个人权利实现普遍承认,这一思路一方面难以为与经济平等相关联的承认提供理论辩护,同时又无法回应对个体认同具有构成性意义的群体差异问题,从而要承担政治认同走向瓦解的风险。基于本真性自我的预设,重思契约论对于建构"人民"共同体的理论意涵,或可发掘出现代国家共同政治认同的根基。建构性的人民主权者作为一个基于特殊政治关系的共同体,也有望为经济正义意义上的承认诉求提供道德理由。

Identity politics is closely related to recognition and differences.In ancient times,recognition was supposed to be founded on spiritedness and honor,but it was well settled within an ethical and hierarchical order.The challenges of the problem of recognition became more severe in the individualist modern society due to the"great disembedding"elaborated by Charles Taylor.The attempt to achieve universal recognition through equal rights of each individual can hardly justify the appeal of recognition related to economic equality.On the other hand,it is unable to effectively respond to group differences which are constituent for individuals,and this failure implies the risk of the collapse of political identity.Given the presupposition of the ideal of authentic self,we can probably discover the root of the common political identity in a modern state by reconsidering the theoretical potentials of social contractarianism to construct the community of"the people".The particular political relationships out of which the community of the sovereign people is constructed may also be expected to justify the appeal of recognition in the sense of economic justice.