延异与至高:德里达、阿甘本论《在法的门前》

Différance and Sovereign: Derrida and Agamben on Before the Law

卡夫卡的短篇小说《在法的门前》以极短的篇幅展现出有关法的深刻议题,德里达和阿甘本曾先后对其进行阐释。德里达的阐释可视为一个解构主义的文学批评,他揭示出文学与法的双重关系:一方面文学是法,另一方面文学受法制约。文学不断超越旧法,形成新法。阿甘本认为,《在法的门前》体现出主权者的至高禁止的结构,乡下人通过排除而被纳入法律,其最终会沦为神圣人。两人的阐释具有共通的结构:德里达对文学超越性的论述与阿甘本对例外状态的论述具有深层的一致性,两人对法与人之间关系的界定也相互渗透。但同时,两人的阐释又存在着立场和方法论的根本分歧,德里达通过延异走向虚无,而阿甘本则力图在无意义中找寻当代的破解之法。

Kafka’s short story Before the Law shows the profound issues of law,which both Derrida and Agamben put their interpretations on it.Derrida’s explanation can be regarded as a deconstructive literary criticism.He reveals the dual relationship between literature and law.On the one hand,literature is law;and on the other hand,literature is restricted by law.Literature has constantly transcended the old law and formed the new law.Agamben believes that the story embodies the structure of the sovereign ban,and the rural man is included into the law through its exclusion,and he will eventually become the homo sacer.The interpretations by the two theorists share common structures:there is deep consistency between Derrida’s exposition on the transcendence of literature and Agamben’s exposition on the state of exception,and their definitions of the relationship between laws and humans are also similar.But meanwhile,there is a fundamental distinction between their positions and methodologies.Derrida heads for nothingness through différance,while Agamben seeks to find a contemporary way to resolve the meaninglessness.