A Discourse on discours : Habermas, Foucault and the Political/Legal Discourses in China Fan Yang To cite this version: Fan Yang. A Discourse on discours : Habermas, Foucault and the Political/Legal Discourses in China. Sociology. École normale supérieure de Cachan - ENS Cachan, 2015. English. NNT : 2015DENS0016. tel-01250660 HAL Id: tel-01250660 https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-01250660 Submitted on 5 Jan 2016 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. THESE DE DOCTORAT DE L’ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE CACHAN Numéro d'identification de la thèse: ENSC-2015n°575 Présentée par Monsieur Fan YANG Pour obtenir le grade de DOCTEUR DE L’ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE CACHAN Domaine : Sociological Theory and Political Philosophy Sujet de la thèse : A DISCOURSE ON DISCOURSE Habermas, Foucault and the Political/Legal Discourses in China Présentée et soutenue à Cachan le 15 Avril 2015 devant le jury compose de : M. Patrice DURAN Professeur à l‘ENS de Cachan Co-directeur de la thèse M. Shijun TONG Professeur à l‘ECNU Co-directeur de la thèse M. Pierre DEMEULENAERE Professeur à l‘Université de Paris-Sorbonne Examinateur M. Zhe JI Maître de conférences à l'Inalco Rapporteur M. Qing LIU Professeur à l‘ECNU Rapporteur École doctorale sciences pratiques (EDSP) Institut des Sciences sociales du Politique (ISP) (ENS /CNRS) 61, avenue de Président Wilson, 94235 CACHAN CEDEX (France) II A DISCOURSE ON DISCOURSE Habermas, Foucault and the Political/Legal Discourses in China III IV Acknowledgements First and foremost I offer my sincerest gratitude to my supervisors, Professor Duran and Professor Tong, who have supported me throughout the course of my thesis with their knowledge, whilst allowing me the freedom to work in my own way. They taught me how to question thoughts and express ideas. Their patience and encouragement helped me overcome many difficulties and finish this ambitious dissertation. One simply could not wish for a better supervisor like them. Professor Liu Qing and Professor Ji Zhe‘s insightful comments and constructive criticisms at different stages of my research were thought-provoking and they helped me focus my ideas. I would also to express my very sincere gratitude to Professors Pierre-Paul Zalio, Yves Sintomer, Chen Yingfang, Jacques Commaille, Pierre Demeulenaere, Gilles Guiheux, Michel Bonnin, Gunnar Skirbekk, Ji Weidong, Pierre Guibentif, Isabelle Thireau and Yu Zhenhua. They gave me some inspirational advices, and thus taught me how to do research. In the laboratory life of ISP, I have been aided for many years. I am thankful to Brigitte Frotiée for her help and support during my stay in France, to all the members of our laboratory for their assistances to my studies and life. I will never forget the fun time we share in our great home. Both in Paris and Shanghai, many friends have helped me stay sane through these difficult years. I greatly value their friendship and I deeply appreciate their belief in me. Most importantly, none of this would have been possible without the love and patience of my parents. I would like to express my heart-felt gratitude to them. I V have to give a special mention for the support given by my girlfriend Li Jing. I warmly appreciate her help and understanding. Finally, I appreciate the financial support from CNRS, CSC and ECNU that funded parts of the research in this dissertation. YANG Fan 29/01/2015 at Cachan VI Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... V TABLE OF CONTENTS ...................................................................................... VII ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................... XI RÉSUMÉ ........................................................................................................XV INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................... 1 1. DISCOURSE DEMOCRACY IS A KIND OF LOCAL KNOWLEDGE? ......................................... 3 2. A CHINESE QUESTION TO HABERMAS AND FOUCAULT ................................................. 9 3. MULTIVARIATE RATIONALITIES? A WEBERIAN QUESTION ........................................... 14 4. METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................. 16 5. STRUCTURE ....................................................................................................... 19 6. CONCEPTS ......................................................................................................... 21 CHAPTER 1. BETWEEN NORMATIVITY AND SOCIAL FACTS: A SOCIOLOGICAL INTERPRETATION ON HABERMA“’“ DI“COUR“E THEORY OF LAW AND DEMOCRACY ................................................................................................. 25 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 27 1. COLONIZATION OF LIFE WORLD AND LEGITIMATION CRISIS OF MODERN SOCIETY ............ 29 2. COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY, COMMUNICATIVE ACTION AND THE IDEAL RATIONAL DISCOURSE ........................................................................................................... 32 3. REBUILDING THE LEGITIMACY OF MODERN SOCIETY WITH COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY 37 VII 4. THE ROLE OF POLITICAL PUBLIC SPHERE .................................................................. 41 5. THE PROCEDURALIST PARADIGM OF LAW................................................................. 46 6. THE EMPIRICAL DIMENSIONS OF DISCOURSE THEORY OF LAW AND DEMOCRACY ............. 51 7. QUALITATIVE RESEARCHES ON THE DISCOURSE THEORY OF LAW AND DEMOCRACY .......... 56 8. QUANTITATIVE RESEARCHES ON THE DISCOURSE THEORY OF LAW AND DEMOCRACY ......... 63 9. CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................... 67 CHAPTER 2. COMMUNICATIVE RATIONALITY OR POWER DISCOURSE: FOUCAULT’“ CHALLENGE TO HABERMAS ....................................................... 71 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 73 1. DIAGNOSES: ABOUT RATIONALITY AND MODERN SOCIETY ........................................... 75 2. METHODOLOGIES: DEBATES ON GENEALOGY ............................................................ 78 3. ON SUBJECT: PRODUCT OF POWER OR INTER-SUBJECTIVITY ......................................... 83 4. ON POWER: PRODUCTIVE (MICRO-) POWER AND COMMUNICATIVE POWER .................. 87 5. DISCOURSE: THE EMBODIMENT OF POWER OR THE CARRIER OF RATIONALITY ................. 93 6. ON DEMOCRACY AND LAW ................................................................................... 98 7. NORMATIVITY AND REALITY IN THE DISCOURSE THEORIES OF HABERMAS AND FOUCAULT 102 8. THE INHERENT TENSION OF WESTERN THOUGHTS ................................................... 107 CHAPTER 3. CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY: ANOTHER NORMATIVE INTERPRETATION ON DISCOURSE THEORY ................................................... 113 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................... 115 1. AN OVERVIEW OF CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY .......................................................... 115 2. THE POTENTIAL AND DEFINITION OF CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY .................................. 119 3. CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY AS THE ETHIC RATIONALISM ............................................. 123 4. LANGUAGE AND THE EMPIRICISM OF CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY .................................. 126 5. ZHONGYONG: THE KEY CONCEPT OF CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY ................................... 133 VIII 6. RESTRICTING PERSONAL DESIRES AND SACRIFICING INDIVIDUAL INTERESTS FOR COLLECTIVE INTERESTS. .......................................................................................................... 136 7. LI: THE POWER RELATIONS AND STRUCTURE OF POWER IN CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY .... 140 8. SHI (SCHOLAR-BUREAUCRATS): THE CARRIER CLASS OF CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY ........ 146 9. CONCLUSION: THE POWER / RATIONALITY DISPUTES IN A CONFUCIAN DISCOURSE CONTEXT ......................................................................................................................... 149 CHAPTER 4. PUBLIC “PHERE AND POLITICAL/LEGAL DISCUSSIONS IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE SOCIETY INFLUENCED BY CONFUCIAN RATIONALITY . 157 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................... 159 1. PUBLIC SPHERE IN TRADITIONAL CHINESE SOCIETY ............................................... 160 1.1 In Ancient China .................................................................................... 161 1.2 In Modern China .................................................................................... 165 2. POLITICAL AND LEGAL DISCUSSIONS IN PUBLIC SPHERE ......................................... 168 2.1 The Origins of Chinese Political / Legal Discussions .............................. 168 2.2 Inequality (Power imbalance)