德里达:从解构主义转向马克思主义——解读《马克思的幽灵》

Derrida:From Deconstructionism to Marxism——A Review of J.Derrida's Spectres de Marx

就在自由主义者认为"马克思主义已经死亡"的时候,德里达这本著作为马克思主义做出了有力的辩护。本文试图从解构主义的马克思主义转向这一维度切入,对德里达进行解读。首先,本文认为德里达所欲继承马克思主义遗产乃是其批判精神和方法论;在此基础上,进一步考察解构主义内在逻辑运动和马克思主义内在解构功能之间的关系;由此,德里达"靠近"马克思主义具有双重内涵:一方面是从解构主义的立场为马克思主义辩护,另一方面则是用马克思主义的策略和方法来旁证解构主义。最后,文章从"话语实践"的角度出发,简述了该书给我们的现实启示。

When some liberalists made an assertion that"Marxism has been dead",Derrida,who is authoritative in the sphere of postmodernism as a famous deconstructionist,wrote The Ghosts Of Marxism seriously to support Marxism.And this book made a stir in the western intelligentsia at once.But the point is how to understand the ideas of this book,why does Derrida turn to Marxism,and what Marxism is according to Derrida? All these questions would be examined in this article by reading the book from the dimension of the Marxist turn of deconst ructionism. At the beginning of this article,the dominant idea of the book is discussed.In the book Derrida reread those Marxist texts such as The German Ideology,Manifesto of the Communist Party,The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte and Capital intertextually.And at the same he analyzed the new system of the contemporary capitalism,namely"the new international".In fact Derrida’s purpose is to explain that it is significant that Marxism has the function to deconstruct the "the new international".While he did so and when he said again and again that mankind should inherit the heritage of Marx,what he wanted to inherit indeed is Marxist critical spirit and its methodology.Through the whole book,it is found that Marxist critical spirit and its methodology have become the cultural heritage of mankind,that is,they have been affecting people in spite of recognized or not.It is from this view that Derrida began his argumentation of the realistic and contemporary significance of Marxism.And this is the dominant idea of the book. Then the theoretical method of the turn of speech is examined.The deconstruction for Derrida is a mode of reading and critique whose tenet is to opposite the tradition and the authority.So Derrida’s deconstructionism has its political dimension from the beginning.According to Derrida the movement of deconstructionsim itself is the desire for justice, and the realistic critique of capitalism.As a critique of capitalism,the movement of deconstructionism is a follower of Marxism,and must be in"some kind of Marxist tradition".So the inner logical development of deconstructionsm has impetus to make Derrida"approach"Marxism.On the other hand,the deconstructive function of Marxism itself also attracts Derrida. Therefore it could be said that it is the encounter of these two aspects in contemporary era that make the turn of speech possible. As a whole there are double meanings in the"approach"of Derrida to Marxism.The first is to defend Marxism from the deconstructionist standpoint.According to Derrida,Marxism is seriously hurt in the end of this century.And the hurt could be cured by deconstructionism because deconstruction itself is"the memory and tradition of Marxism".The second is to prove deconstructionism with Marxist strategies and methods.From the view of form there seems something similar between deconstructionism and Marxism.But the question is whether the deconstructionist reading mode could grasp the nature of Marxist spirit.The author of this article takes a prudent optimism or even a suspicious attitude. At the end of this article,the realistic significance of the book is briefly explained from the view of"the practice of speech".Foucault suggested that there is a kind of author in the 19th century could be called"the originator of the practice of speech".These authors include such one as Freud and Marx who is not only the authors of his own works but also creates possibilities and rules for other texts.That means that they open up a space for heterogeneity.As for Marxism,its narrative on social reality contains a kind of tension.And it is this tension that leaves successor a great theoretical space. Therefore Derrida’s deconstructionist reading of Marxism should not be completely accepted or simply refused.At least his intertextual reading between Marxism and post-capitalism, between Marxism and post-constructionism reveals something significant:the inner heterogeneity of a text makes the new and infinite meaning possible;every version of Marxism is worth thinking while the pure prototype does not exist in the condition of postmodern;the basic idea,standpoint and method certainly should be insisted but the spirit of Marxist "text"could only be developed with the change of times.