ABSTRACT

English-language commentary on the role of the French Revolution in Hegel’s Phenomenology of Spirit tends to equate the so-called “fury of destruction” (Furie des Verschwindens) with the violent dialectic of rival factions’ rush for power. Here it is argued that “Absolute Freedom and Terror” ought instead to be read in the light of a “fury of disappearance”, namely in terms of the extinction of dissenting citizens’ legal personhood. This is achieved by recourse to civil death, a criminal sentence that declares the individual, who is very much alive, legally dead. While there are some actual and quite painful consequences for recipients of such a sentence, civil death is effective mainly on the philosophical and constitutional planes, where it maintains the illusion of a unanimous general will, fleetingly securing the state from failure. A focus on personhood and civil death also taps into the larger Hegelian dialectic of legalism and tradition, and into the various shapes community life takes therein, beginning with Greek Ethical Life, and ending in Absolute Freedom and Terror.

摘要

关于法国大革命在黑格尔《精神现象学》中的作用的英语评论倾向于将所谓的“毁灭之怒”（Furie des Verschwindens）等同起来。）与敌对派系争夺权力的激烈辩证法。这里有人认为，“绝对自由与恐怖”应该从“消失之怒”的角度来解读，即从异议公民的法人资格消失的角度来解读。这是通过诉诸民事死亡来实现的，这是一种刑事判决，宣布非常活着的个人合法死亡。虽然对接受这种判决的人有一些实际的和相当痛苦的后果，但民事死亡主要在哲学和宪法层面上有效，在那里它保持一致普遍意志的幻觉，短暂地保护国家免于失败。对人格和公民死亡的关注也涉及到更大的黑格尔式的律法主义和传统辩证法，以及社区生活在其中所采取的各种形式，