力量的内在性——从斯宾诺莎到“激进民主”

The Immanence of Power:From Spinoza To“Radical Democracy”

斯宾诺莎对民主理论的重要贡献不在于作为“治理”的民主概念,而在于他追问民主问题的方式,即通过力量来思考民主政治。这一立场可被概述为“力量的内在性”,国家无法被视作一个超越的领域,而必须由“诸众的力量”构成,并积极回应诸众变动不居的意见、要求和情感生活。“激进民主”是概述这种政治本体论最好的术语。《神学政治论》《政治论》和《伦理学》提供了民主的三个时刻——民主作为最自然的状态,与其说是一种建制形式,不如说是一种带有过程性和无限性特征的、由政治主体共享和栖居的共同世界——一种生活形式。因此,它能够为重思今日的激进民主之争(墨菲、奈格里、哈贝马斯等人)提供可能的替代方案。

Spinoza's important contribution to democratic theory lies not in his conception of democracy as a form of“govermment”,but in the way he addresses the question of democracy,i.e.,thinking democratic politics through the ontological term of power.This position can be summarised as the“immanence of power”,whereby the state cannot be seen as a transcendent sphere but must be constituted only by the“power of the multitude”and respond actively to their fluctuating opinions,demands and affective life.This political ontology can be best described as“radical democracy”.Tractatus theologico-politicus,Tractatus politicus,Ethics provide three moments of democracy.Democracy as the “most natural form”of the state,instead of a pure form of institution,refers to a common world inhabited and shared by political subjects,namely a form of life,with the very character of process and infinity.Therefore,Spinoza's question of democracy could possibly offer an altemative to rethinking the contemporary radical democracy debate(Mouffe,Negri,Habermas,etc.).