ABSTRACT

This article challenges ‘agonistic’ readings of Arendt by demonstrating that Arendt’s work can be interpreted as ‘agonistic realism’. It argues that many agonistic readings of Arendt – I will discuss the readings of Bonnie Honig and Chantal Mouffe in particular – miss the central orientation of Arendt’s thought. By ignoring works such as The Origins of Totalitarianism and Eichmann in Jerusalem, contemporary agonists overlook that her preoccupation with evil forms the basis of Arendt’s agonistic thought.

The article suggests that a (re)turn to Arendt’s writings on evil, and a demonstration of their intimate relationship with works such as The Human Condition, reveals the ‘realist’ dimensions of Arendt’s thought: It reveals the picture of a thinker who is deeply concerned with the ever-present possibility of evil and who insists that perpetrators of evil must be treated as ‘enemies’. Furthermore, such a return to Arendt’s works on evil brings to the fore Arendt’s tragic insight that evil is both an expression of and a threat to human plurality and free political action. Arendt, in other words, accepts that while evil – as an expression of our humanity – can never be eradicated, it must – as a threat to our common humanity – be confronted.

摘要

本文通过证明阿伦特的作品可以被解释为“狂热现实主义”，对阿伦特的“激动性”解读提出了挑战。它认为，阿伦特的许多激动人心的读物（尤其是我将讨论邦妮·洪尼格和尚塔尔·穆菲的读物）都错过了阿伦特思想的中心取向。通过忽略诸如《极权主义的起源》和《耶路撒冷的艾希曼》之类的作品，当代的激动主义者忽略了她对邪恶的关注构成了阿伦特激动思想的基础。

该文章建议，重新审视阿伦特关于邪恶的著作，并证明其与诸如《人类状况》等作品的亲密关系，揭示了阿伦特思想的“现实主义”维度：它揭示了一个思想家的图景，他深深地关注邪恶的可能性，并坚持认为邪恶的罪犯必须被视为“敌人”。此外，对阿伦特关于邪恶的著作的这种回归使阿伦特的悲剧性见识浮出水面，即邪恶既是人类多元化和自由政治行动的一种表达，又是对它的威胁。换句话说，阿伦特（Arendt）接受，虽然永远不能消除邪恶（作为我们人类的一种表达），但必须面对它（作为对我们人类的威胁）。