抽象空间的矛盾与差异——列斐伏尔《空间的生产》解读

Contradictions and Differences in Abstract Space:An Interpretation of Lefebvre’s The Production of Space

在资本主义抽象空间的发展中,越来越多的内在冲突和矛盾暴露出来,这需要一种面对抽象空间生产中的矛盾分析。重新颠倒被资本主义颠倒了的抽象空间,关键在于要深刻把握这一空间生产中社会基本矛盾中的新动向。要真正战胜资本主义空间生产方式,空间理论就必须重新关注在抽象空间的生产中被遮蔽起来的差异性,它将是原有空间生产体系本身自我爆炸的裂口,这也意味着,在社会空间生产中,探寻社会矛盾中发生的最大差异化则是走向新空间生产的开端。

In the development of capitalist abstract space,an increasing number of internal conflicts and contradictions are being exposed,necessitating an analysis of these contradictions within abstract space production.The key to re-inverting capitalist inverted abstract space lies in deeply grasping the new trends in the fundamental social contradictions within this space production.The first profound contradiction is the contradiction between quality and quantity,which is an important category of contradictory relations in the Hegelian-Marxian conception of dialectics.The abstract space erases the homogenization of space differences through the interchangeability of commodities and money,with both the premise and outcome of this homogenization being quantification operations.Specifically in the micro-mechanisms of space production,it means the quantification of the negation of qualitative differences through concrete operations such as space measurement,statistics,and planning.The second profound contradiction emerges between the space globalization(worldlization)and self-fragmentation.Lefebvre himself stated that while contradictions between center and periphery arise if in the general production of urban space,there exists a contradictory relationship between totality and fragmentation in the space production of the capital globalization.The third profound contradiction lies in the contradiction between the use value and exchange value within space production.The essence of bourgeois space production is the interchangeability value generated in the consumption space,where the purpose of space production is for sale rather than real use.It is in this sense that Lefebvre identifies it as exchange overpowering use.However,the new revolution in space production that Lefebvre envisions must be a renewed triumph of use over exchange.Ultimately,the contradictions in capitalist space production can be traced back to the fundamental contradiction between productive forces and relations of production.The relations of production in capitalist space production have significantly hindered the development of productive forces.The antagonistic development of this contradiction may present the possibility for a renewed form of space production.Due to the complexity of capitalist space production,Lefebvre suggests a new space epistemology be established.Lefebvre’s conception of space epistemology,there appears to be a progression from affirmation to negation,from complicit cognition of power towards critical knowledge,ultimately aiming to eliminate the exchange relations within space science and return to the progressive logic of the utilitarian essence inherent in space science.To truly overcome the capitalist space production mode,space theory must refocus on the obscured difference in abstract space production,which will be a breakthrough spurring the original space production system to destroy the old and establish the new by itself.This also means that in socio-spatial production,exploring the maximum differentiation that occurs in social contradictions is the beginning of a move towards a new space production.In Lefebvre’s framework,the difference analysis serves as a deeper extension of the method of contradiction analysis and is a crucial component of historical materialism and dialectics.According to him,the space difference is no longer the mere examination of the heterogeneity within urban spaces;but it is more fundamentally linked to the law of the unity of opposites in materialistic dialectics.For example,beyond the surface uniformity of capitalist abstract space lies the revelation of antagonistic contradictions within space production.The revolutionary transformation of space production methods is made possible through the transition from the fundamental contradictions of social space production to internal difference.