Out Of The Modern Dilemma Of Freedom

The dilemma of freedom is one of the major crises which human beings meet in modern society. In the secular world of today, how to cope with this crisis, providing a basis of "Archimedes point" for human freedom, is the core issue which faced by the contemporary philosophy. Many thinkers have thought deeply around this problem, seeking to overcome the dilemma of freedom in modernity and restore the free nature of human with theory and practice. As the contemporaries and experiencer of modernity, Rousseau, Hegel and Marx have conducted a quite profound analysis and criticism about it. To re-comb and interpret their theories, especially to "interpret" and "activate" Marx’s response to the freedom crisis of modern society, can not only help us to fully understand the syndrome characteristics and the cause of the problem of freedom in modernity, but also provide effective guidance for us to getting out of the modern predicament of freedom.The focus of this research is how does Marx interpret the crisis with his unique theoretical perspectives and methods, and providing what kind of transcendence path when he faced with the dilemma of freedom in modernity. The research followed two inner logics:one is to elucidate Marx’s thought in the context of the freedom in modernity; the other one is to study the freedom problem in modernity in the view of Marx’s thought. According to this train of thought, the main contents of this research launches from three aspects:Firstly, starting from the modernity and the highlight of freedom problems, getting a macro grasp of the problem consciousness, method characteristics and the way of interpretation which used by Marx to explore the dilemma of modernity freedom, it laid the background and theoretical basis for the whole thesis, constitute the premise part of the research. Starting from what is modernity, point out that the great difference between modern and traditional is the emphasis on the freedom of human. But this kind of freedom is not absolutely, it also has its own dilemma which caused by the insurmountable duality contradictions of modernity:subjectivity and rational were emphasized too much in the spiritual dimension that brought the indifference to others and the value of individualism, the advance of material wealth in the institutional dimension also caused a series of problem of human’s existence. Facing with this, theorists who represent the "freedom of public" have given a profound criticism, forming a theoretical framework from Rousseau to Hegel, which provide the theoretical premise for the formation of Marx’s thought. On the basis of inheriting and criticizing this theoretical context, Marx formed his own problem consciousness, method characteristics, interpretation ideas of exploring the dilemma of modernity freedom. Marx’s thought has experienced the historical process from "inherit the ideal of enlightenment freedom" to "beyond the ideal of enlightenment freedom", thus opened the problem consciousness about how to break through the boundaries of human’s freedom in the modernity of capitalism. Under the provisions of this core problem consciousness, Marx had analyzed the freedom of people in the modernity of capitalism in depth, from the perspective of the social practice and social relations.Secondly, using Marx’s basic position, viewpoint and method, clarifying his theoretical criticism to the dilemma of modernity freedom from two dimensions of spiritual and institutional, and thus leads to Marx’s theoretical construction on transcending the dilemma of modernity freedom, it constitutes the main part of the thesis. Marx’s criticism to the dilemma of modernity freedom is around two aspects of spiritual dimension and institutional dimension. In the spiritual dimension, Marx revealed that the sense of freedom which brought by modernity in the spiritual dimension is actually "subjective freedom", it is based on the philosophy of subjective metaphysics, determined that the subject of freedom is a kind of subject with "non-historical", "unipolar", "eternal presence", and leads to the abstraction of freedom. On the basis of historical materialism, Marx requires that the man in the practice would be the subject of freedom, and develop the freedom of subject in social relations and historical formation, so as to complete the spiritual critique to the dilemma of freedom in modernity. In the institutional dimension, Marx saw that people’s freedom was deprived by the capitalist system, he grasped and criticized the capital logic which is the core of the capitalist system operation. Marx reveals the "dualism" of the capital logic, requires to use the capital’s "great function in civilization" to promote the people’s freedom and avoid the "negative nature" of capital to deprive the people’s freedom. Therefore, it is necessary to get a new social form of modernity to complete the "inner transcendence" to the modernity of capitalism. Marx put forward that the new social form of modernity is the unity of free men, it will take a series of systems, such as the "Social individual ownership", "Economic operation mechanism as planned" and "Combination of distribution according to work and distribution according to need" to protect people’s freedom. In the combo,People will achieve the conscious, voluntary, autonomous, personality and ability of fully developed, get the control of time in freely, eventually become a person who has a free and comprehensive development.Finally, using Marx’s standpoint, viewpoint and method, to explore the problems of freedom which faced by the contemporary construction of Chinese modernity, highlighting the contemporary significance of Marx’s theory, it constitutes the conclusion part of this thesis. The "particularity" of the construction of Chinese modernity, leading to the problem of freedom which may occured in Chinese modernity construction is different from the common sense:in the spiritual dimension, the lack and the expand of subjectivity consciousness are existed at the same time; in the institutional dimension, the problem of freedom which caused by the inadequate development of capital and the improper development of capital are existed at the same time. In this case, we must make a creative transformation of Marx’s thought in the context of China, and provide useful inspiration for the solution of the problem of freedom in contemporary China. In the current context of China, if we want to grasp Marx’s thought of the freedom in modernity, we must take the following points. Firstly, realize the innovation of the "freedom of subjectivity" in Chinese style, secondly, take a dialectical examine to the relationship between the capital and the freedom of people in modern China, thirdly, to guarantee the realization of people’s freedom in system construction.