作为境况的“社会”:阿伦特论现代性与“局外人”

Society as Condition:Hannah Arendt on Modernity and the Pariah

对犹太人问题的讨论,马克思、涂尔干、齐美尔都以各自的方式处理了他们的“犹太经验”,并将其呈现为一种社会学的客观立场。身处20世纪经历了整体性危机的西方社会,在经典理论家的“犹太命题”基础上,阿伦特为犹太人问题提供了新的视角和思考方向。阿伦特发现,近代西欧犹太人既生活在“社会之中”,又生活在“社会之外”,“局外人”一词暗含的社会与经济属性才是对犹太人与社会关系的客观表述。本文首先对西方近代民族国家发展与犹太人解放这段历史展开论述,然后重点叙述“富有犹太人”和“犹太知识分子”这两个群体在近代西方社会生活中的处境与地位,最后讨论社会理论传统中的犹太人问题,并在这一理论脉络中定位阿伦特对这一问题的探讨。

The Jewish question holds an importance that transcends times.Anti-Semitism and the subsequent series of catastrophes as the emblematic events of the Western 20th century have been integrated into the scope of social theory,serving as a significant supplement to classical social theory.Marx,Durkheim,and Simmel each dealt with their“Jewish experience”in their own ways,presenting it as an objective issue in social theory.Amidst the comprehensive crisis of the 20th century in Western society,Arendt,building on the foundation of classic theorists’“Jewish propositions”,offered new perspectives and directions for the Jewish question.She discovered that Jews exist both“within society”and“outside society”.Here,“society”is not just a living environment or experience,but also a“condition”.The term“pariah”objectively describes the relationship between Jews and“society”.This paper first discusses the development of Western modern nation-states and the emancipation of Jews,then focuses on the situation and status of“wealthy Jews”and“Jewish intellectuals”in modern Western society.It demonstrates how the prominent social status of a small number of wealthy Jews in the rise of modern nation-states is linked to the tragic fate of all Jews,and how the tension between the Jewish intelligentsia and the European high society has given rise to a representative introspective spirituality.Finally,the paper attempts to discuss the Jewish question in social theory and position Arendt’s exploration of this issue within this theoretical context.