公共领域与权力的合法性基础——西方马克思主义基础理论研究

Public Domain and the Legitimacy of Power Base——Western Marxism Basic Theoretical Research

公共领域是西方马克思主义重建历史唯物主义的核心范畴。西方马克思主义认为,极权主义、晚期资本主义的一个本质特征是系统(经济子系统与政治子系统合一)与生活世界对立,是人民群众的被奴役和边缘化。权力的合法性基础是人民群众的拥护,没有人民群众支持的权力等于暴力。公共领域作为公共意识得以形成的领域,直接构成权力的合法性基础,因而,维护还是压制公共领域成为民主政治与专制政治的分水岭。哈贝马斯提出公共领域理论,本质上是提出了一种超越西方议会制民主的新形式,不仅对于历史唯物主义的基础理论具有建设性的意义,而且对于社会主义和谐社会建设和国际政治、经济新秩序的建设具有重大的实践意义。

The public domain is the core area of the reconstruction of historical materialism of Western Marxism. Accordingly to Western Marxism, the essential feature of totalitarianism and the late capitalism is the opposition between system （the combination of economic subsystem and the political subsystem） and the Living World, is the slavery and marginalization of the masses. The legitimacy of power is built upon the masses of the people, without the support of the masses will lead to violence. Public domain, as the area where public awareness formed, directly constitute the basis of legitimacy of power, and thus maintain or suppress the public domain became the watershed of whether it＇s democratic political or authoritarian political. Habermas, who raised the public sphere theory, is actually developed a new form that goes beyond the Western parliamentary democracy. It not only has constructional significance for the basic theory of historical materialism, but also has very practical meaning for the construction of socialist harmonious society and the international political and economic order.