【让吕克·南希】民主的意义.pdfVIP

On the Meanings of Democracy Jean-Luc Nancy Questioning the frailty of democracy is a function of the very confir- mation of democratic certainty becoming generalized. Once the assurance is given, in all forms of discourse, that democracy is the only kind of political regime that is acceptable to an adult, emanci- pated population, which is an end in itself, then the very idea of democracy fades and becomes blurred and confusing. At the outset it should be stated that, in Europe, it was this wide- spread lack of clarity which gave rise to a range of different regimes, dubbed totalitarian, that our century has put to the test. Unlike those who, in the 1920s and 1930s, could believe in a demand for radical reformation of the public, common domain, we can no longer ignore the pitfalls or dangers which are concealed behind the per- plexities of democracy. For all that, it is impossible to be simply a democrat without ques- tioning what this really means, since the term continues to present dif- ficulties nearly every step of the way, regardless of the direction taken. Ignoring these difficulties, which is the line constantly taken in political discourse, is as dangerous as rejecting democracy com- pletely—it prohibits thought, thus masking those same pitfalls and dangers, and even others. What is proposed here is merely a minimal argument or blueprint for an enquiry into the possible meanings of democracy : 1. When the word is taken to describe the exercising of political power by the people, then either: The people refers to part of the social group as distinct from at least one other reputedly superior part which dominates it. In this case democracy is not a regime in itself, but rather an uprising against the regime (or at least against the govemment). It is a revolt bom of poverty and of what is considered unbear