Freedom seems to be a complex concept, as the contradictory relationship between “two kinds of freedom” and the problem of “freedom paradox” reveals, which is in fact the result of mixing three categories: “Freedom”,“Realization of Freedom” and “View of Freedom”. As a general value, “Freedom” does not exist abstractly. It always needs to get rid of restrictions and constraints through labor and social practice in the real life. The real freedom that people enjoy in real life is the “Realization of Freedom”. Meanwhile, “Sense of Freedom” is the reflection and evaluation of freedom and its realization by the subject, which is individual and self-oriented——therefore, it is a pluralistic concept. The three categories are clearly distinguished and dialectically unified on the basis of human social practice. If we judge “Realization of Freedom” and “Sense of Freedom” to be freedom in general, we will feel that there are many kinds of freedom. But still, there are different definitions of freedom among different subjects in different times, which will lead to the “paradox of freedom”.

Editor: Zhong Yao、Zheng Yifan

From:Marxist Philosophy.2021.No.2.