From resistance to revolution: the limits of nonviolence in Arendt’s ‘Civil Disobedience’

ABSTRACT

Arendt’s work on civil disobedience sets out an optimistic portrayal of the possibilities of such forms of action in re-energising the spirit of American politics in the late twentieth century. Civil disobedience should not simply be tolerated, she argued, but incorporated into the legal structure of the American political system. Her work is usually seen to promote an idea of civil disobedience that is thus bound to existing constitutional principles and essentially nonviolent. However, by looking at Arendt’s discussion and critique of various practices of civil disobedience in 1960s and 1970s America, specifically in relation to the nonviolence movement influenced by Martin Luther King, and on the other side, the more militant Black Power movement, a different idea of civil disobedience emerges. This paper argues that whilst, for Arendt, civil disobedience within America certainly possesses the constitutionally restorative potential she assigns to it, in a broader sense – theoretically, globally, and even in terms of alternative ideologies within America – her conception of civil disobedience is in itself neither necessarily constitutional, nor nonviolent. It is, instead, a form of revolutionary action, whose limits are set only by politics itself, and specifically, Arendt’s criterion of publicity.     

Canada’s Israel Policy under Justin Trudeau: Rejecting or Reinforcing the Legacy of Stephen Harper?

Scholars of Canadian politics have noted that the Prime Minister plays a dominant role in shaping domestic and foreign policy. This article examines the role of the Prime Minister in shaping Canadian foreign policy toward Israel since 1993 and shows the central role that the Prime Minister has played on this issue. It specifically argues that Stephen Harper produced a noticeable pro-Israel shift in Canada’s policy and moved Canada away from the multilateralist approach pursued by Jean Chrétien and, to a lesser extent, Paul Martin. But this article also argues that Justin Trudeau has so far embraced a policy that largely reinforces the approach of Harper rather than rejecting it. Thus, one practical implication of the dominant role of the Prime Minister in shaping Canada’s policy toward Israel is that Canada has become more one-sided in its support of Israel in the past two decades.     

14C测定判别武王克商年代范围始末

武王克商年代是我国古代编年中的一个关键点,近年来^14C测定技术有了重要发展,我国^14C测年界在此基础上探讨了^14C方法应用于商周历史纪年的希望。1996年夏商周断代工程正式立项,利用^14C测定判别武王克商年代范围的任务得以实施。1998年初两个常规^14C实验室以3‰测定精度,前后开始对陕西丰镐遗址出土样品^14C测定,并于1998年10月6－7日先后公布了^14C数据,提出武王克商代范围应判别在公元前1050－1020年间。1998年下半年AMS室开始测定。三室测定数据对比结果基本相合,利用殷墟,琉璃河等遗址出土的样品系列作^14C测定得出的结果,与上述年代范围一致。1998年11月30日公布了天计算结果,与测定结果不谋而合,经多方面反复验证,历时近二年,都无法动摇已有的判别结果,具有较高的可信度。     

商纣俎醢侯伯新证

战国秦汉时的文献中常言商王纣脯醢俎杀诸侯方伯,并认为这是周武王兴兵讨伐、商纣亡国的一个主要原因。古今不少学者对此多有怀疑。今地下出土的晚商金文及殷墟甲骨文资料可证商纣俎醢酋长侯伯并祭祀先王完全是历史事实。从殷墟卜辞看,商代从武丁起以人为牲的情况呈递减趋势。商纣俎醢酋长侯伯不是个人品质性格问题,而是殷人文化习俗观念使然。     

Oszillierende Weltmodelle versus Urknallmodelle. Das oszillierende Weltmodell Friedmanns,die Ablehnung der Anfangssingularität durch russische Kosmologen und die Zustimmung der katholischen Kirche zur Urknalltheorie Lemaîtres und Hawkings

The Russian mathematician and physicist Friedmann and the Belgian priest and physicist Lemaître were the first to consider non‐static world models in the framework of Einstein's general theory of relativity. Friedmann seemed to favour a periodic, oscillating cosmological model. His investigations were taken up by Russian cosmologists in the 1960s. They stated that the singularities present in many of the Friedmann‐Lemaître cosmological models seemed to be artificial and were ascribed to the assumption of a highly symmetric distribution of cosmic matter. Their disapproval of singularities seems to be in accord with Soviet ideological requirements during that time like atheism and dialectic materialism. They had to retract their statements after Hawking had proved his singularity theorems and after the microwave background had been discovered. Hawking followed the line of thought which was initiated by Lemaître in the early 1930s. Lemaître had combined for the first time quantum physics and relativistic cosmology and had developed his idea of the primeval atom, a beginning of the universe in a dense state with just one quantum containing the whole mass of the universe. Pope Pius XII brought together this primeval atom and God as the Creator of the universe and declared in 1951 that big bang cosmology is compatible with the Bible. Not surprisingly Hawking was awarded the Pius XI medal by the Vatican in 1975 for his contributions to big bang cosmology.     

说花园庄东地甲骨卜辞的“丁”——附:释“速”

最近公布的殷墟花园庄东地甲骨卜辞中,多次出现一位当时还活着的、称为“丁”的人物,从卜辞内容可以看出其地位甚高。本文主要通过指出这批卜辞中与历组一类占卜同事的一组卜辞,肯定了“丁”就是当时的商王武丁。以“丁”称呼时王武丁,究竟应该如何解释尚待进一步研究。同时,也可以进一步推定这批卜辞的时代,当为武丁晚期而非整理者认为的“武丁前期”。此外,这批卜辞中多次出现的一个整理者隶定作“”的字,应释为“速”,意为“召”、“召请”。旧有殷墟卜辞中一个或释读为“眚”、“软”、“喘”等的字,应释为“” ,读为咳嗽之“嗽”。     

吴之邗城非干国考辨

一直以来,人们都将《管子.小问》中的"吴干战"与《左传》记载的"吴城邗"联系起来,并因此认定吴王夫差是在干国故都"城邗,沟通江淮"。本文通过对相关历史文献和考古资料的深入研究与辨析,提出吴干战不在江北之广陵,邗城不是干国,邗王是晋人专称的观点。     

“元王诗”考索

自宋代以来,《汉书》所载元王诗多被人目为《鲁诗》,但其证据存在诸多疑点。因此,考察《元王诗》的归属是进一步地弄清汉代《诗经》传承版图的一个重要内容。本文从《元王诗》被看作《鲁诗》的过程出发,具体分析了《元王诗》非《鲁诗》的原因,并比对了刘向《诗》学观点与楚元王封地附近的汉代《诗》简,从而最终判定《元王诗》是汉代《诗经》传授中的独立一支,刘向所习主要是《元王诗》而非《鲁诗》。所以从刘向《诗》学中辑考的鲁诗也非《鲁诗》。     

England,France, the papacy and the Flemish succession, 1361-9

International politics in the 1360s were dominated by a diplomatic duel between England and France to secure the marriage of Margaret de Male, only child of the count of Flanders and ‘the richest heiress in christendom’. This struggle ultimately involved every major European power, including the papacy and the Empire, and resulted in wars in areas as far apart as Hainault, Castile and Lombardy. It was eventually won by the French, leaving the English with a bitter resentment both toward the Flemings and, more especially, towards the papacy, which had been instrumental in securing the victory for France.     

武王克商年代考

国家"夏商周断代工程"初步确定商周断代在公元前1046年,他们依据的前提是"当年岁星是在鹑火星次",比实际情况--"当年岁星是在天鼋星次",多了6个星次.所以,他们的推算方法虽然是正确的,但是因为所依据的前提错误,结果不对.依据对月象词、星象词和西周时期历法的认识,以岁星(木星)的运行规律可知,牧野之战发生于公元前1039年夏历的三月四日.我们判断,武王伐商是当年的二月一日壬辰,二日癸巳早晨从周地出发,二月戊午师逾孟津,二月晦日越五日甲子在牧野与商纣王战斗.