Freedom And System In The View Of Historical Materialism

Human history is a process, any era, including our present era, is the embodiment of human historical existence as a stage of historical process. When we look back to the past or observe the reality, we can find that some problems attract people’s concern in every age, and then, these problems have been given eternal significance. And, the research on freedom and institution is one of these problems obviously. Research on the freedom and the institution is not a new problem, but it is a very important problem. The development of human history can be described as a process of pursuing freedom or a process of different institutional evolution. But when we try to describe the concepts of freedom and institution in the field of philosophy, we still found the deficiencies in our established theories. Especially the paradox of freedom and institution has become one of difficult problem we cannot explain in the real life of human society.The paradox of freedom and institution is a fact since the beginning of human history, and, the research of this problem start from philosophy in the very beginning. In fact, the "Freedom-Institution" paradox is just a reflex of a series of meta philosophical problems in the social life of human, for example, the contradiction of "be" and "should be". However, all the traditional western philosophers cannot solve the "Freedom-Institution" paradox thoroughly just because of the separation of subject and object. Especially when we enter into the modern society, the availability of traditional western philosophy’s interpretation for the social reality is becoming more and more weaker, the complete solution of "Freedom-Institution" paradox is due to Karl Max and his theory of historical materialism. Max’s historical materialism changed the subject of philosophy fundamentally, We turned to find the way of human liberation from questioning the origin of the world. The establishment of Max’s historical materialism not only provides the most reasonable explanation for the "Freedom-Institution" paradox, but also reveals the development of human history scientifically. Marx believes that freedom is not an unrestricted state but a historical process, people can realize the essential characteristics in the process, it means that human beings can live in their own way. The institution also means more than the restrictions, it proves that the degree of development of human beings and also put forward higher requirements of human existence. Freedom and institution is the two aspects of the same problem. The contradiction between freedom and institution comes from the unique way of human existence-- the practice. To solve this problem is also a historical process, with the development of human productivity, and the "Freedom-Institution" paradox will achieve complete reunification in the process of human activities eventually.More than three decades have passed from China’s Third Plenary Session of the CPC in 1978, which made a policy of the reform and opening up. These three decades is the period of Chinese economic transformation and rapid development, and also is the period that a traditional national changes their mode of existence. In the more efficient, orderly and stable system of modern institution, people’s action is becoming increasingly unfree. Today, China’s socialist construction has entered a crucial period of deepening the reform, to solve the contradiction of freedom and institution has become one of the most important problems in China. In this context, to explain the concepts of freedom and institution and the relationship of two concepts from the point of view of philosophy becomes a necessary task.For the current situation, this article will combined Marx’s theory of historical materialism and the social reality in China today, on the basis of interpretation in the text, explaining in the vision of the contemporary, and attempting to take the classical theory as a guide, so as to describe how to solve the paradox of freedom and institution. Specifically include the following:The first part is to elaborate the main content of different philosophers’ views about the "Freedom-Institution" paradox in the process of the development of the history of philosophy.The second part discusses the concepts of freedom and institution contained in Marx’s fundamental description, including the relationship of this two concepts.The third part explains that freedom and institution how to interact in the process of development of human history, and why can they be linked together.In the fourth chapter, we will discuss the "Freedom-Institution" paradox in the modern western society, and review what Marx revealed to us again.In the last chapter, We will focus on the "Freedom-Institution" paradox in contemporary China, and try to find the solution of these problems in the crucial period of deepening the reform.