The Evolution Of The Value Of Freedom In Two Kinds Of New Liberalism

For the first time,liberalism puts the value of freedom in the first place and takes the pursuit of freedom as the primary purpose of life.The basic meaning of the value of freedom is to have the right not to be forced to interfere by external powers,which is the basis and core of realizing all rights such as life and property.The value of freedom based on the axiology of individualism,individualism abstracts people from social relations into formal individuals and regards the objective differences between people as the product of acquired social development,actually contains the equal value of "natural human rights,born equal",and it is only when people are born equal and do not have the predestination,people have the possibility and necessity to pursuit the value of freedom.When individualism and equality are combined,the result of value practice is the rise of liberalism.The theory of social contract,derived from individualism,explains the origin of the state from a new perspective and endures the state with new social functions,which embodies the nomocracy principle,the principle of democracy and the idea of service-oriented government about modern society,which also strengthens the justice of the liberal theory.New liberalism has made a great deepening to the value of freedom,mainly focusing on two points: first,it develops from negative freedom to positive freedom;second,it reexamines the relationship between freedom and equality.New liberalism defines the right not to be disturbed by the outside world as negative freedom,while positive freedom is more concerned about whether one has the ability to accomplish what one wants to do independently.New liberalism pays more attention to the relationship between positive freedom and equality,focus more on social fairness,and absorbs part of the socialist theory,and no longer excessively advocates the value of individualism.Equal emphasis on freedom and equality deepens the respect and tolerance between ideas and theories,which makes the new liberalism give birth to the value-pluralism.Neo-liberalism restored the foundation of freedom supremacy in the value of freedom,and freedom no longer compromises to equality: individual rights are the first,justice is independent of equality but lies in rights.Although inequality exists objectively,it is not unjust.Neo-liberalism inevitably had irreconcilable conflict with pluralism because he emphasized the supremacy of freedom and opposed to compromise with the value of equality or democracy.New liberalism develops and surpasses classical liberalism in terms of the value of freedom,while neo-liberalism emphasizes the return and adherence to the value of classical freedom.As a weapon against feudal autocracy and thearchy,liberalism is a precious essence in the human ideological history.However,the value of freedom is rooted in individualism,and the primacy of individual interest is the fundamental problem of liberalism.No matter which kind of liberalism should be based on the value standpoint of transcending individualism to carry out theoretical improvement,otherwise it can not really eliminate various social problems by the liberalism.