A Study Of ZhangJunmai’s Concept Of Freedom

As a modernity appeal of Chinese people, freedom can’t take root until it is transplanted into Chinese cultural traditions. In this regard, the research on the Confucian concept of freedom is of great theoretical and practical significance. Modern Neo-Confucianism in the 20th century has made positive theoretical attempts, although it is still not able to break away from the tension between pre-modern Confucianism and modern concept of freedom, their theories which is constructed by ’reserving traditional culture and establishing new national spirit’("返本开新"), are still typical samples. Therefore, only through deep analysis on the concept of freedom in Modern Neo-Confucianism, we can explore the relationship between the concept of modern freedom and Chinese cultural tradition.In Modern Neo-Confucianism, Zhang Junmai’s concept of freedom is the most representative one. On the one hand, Zhang, one of the representatives of modern Chinese intellectuals who understand and identify the western liberalism most, has an insight into political freedom. On the other hand, because of his advocating Confucianism renaissance, he inherited Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism and established ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’("新宋学"). So his concept of freedom intensively embodies the relationship between the traditional Confucianism and the modern freedom. In addition, as an early exponent of the Modern Neo-Confucianism, Zhang’s problem consciousness and theoretical thoughts have provided much enlightenment for the theoretical construction of other Modern Neo-Confucianism. Thanks to the analysis on Zhang Junmai’s concept of freedom, the common defect of the concept of freedom put forward by Modern Neo-Confucianism can be gradually revealed.In view of the achievement and deficiency of the current research, this study will be based on a source horizon of thoughts and then look into Zhang Junmai’s concept of political freedom and ontological freedom; so that his theoretical defects will be revealed and the new possible of Confucian concept of freedom will be finally put forward. Specific contents as follows:Zhang’s concept of freedom was born in the historical context where the traditional Confucianism encountered the challenges from modern liberalism. As a positive response to liberalism in modern Confucianism, Zhang expresses the idea of freedom on the basis of the theory of ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’ that is characteristic of’combination of eastern and western features’, which has reflected Zhang’s concept of freedom and ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’have the theoretical isomorphism and the conceptual consistency. So it is necessary to inspect the ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’.’Neo-Confucianism of Song’is such a typical theory as can be divided into metaphysics and post-metaphysics. Having put four virtues of ’benevolence, justice, etiquette and wisdom’into practice, post-metaphysics of ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’has promoted two dimensions of knowledge theory and ethical theory. Moreover, the knowledge theory clarifies that the knowledge is obtained by the individual reason, but it is finally brought into the scope of ethics because it is regarded as the ’Wisdom’ of the Confucianism. Besides, the ethical theory has reinterpreted’benevolence, justice and etiquette’in Confucianism with reference to modern western moral concept, so as to emphasize that the individuals are independent moral subjects, to advocate that the citizens should establish the modern personality and carry out self-cultivation through developing culture and education, and to promote that the country should be built through constructing regime and achieving modern democratic politics. However, metaphysics of ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’has not only directly inherited the transcendental view of ’Liangzhi as ontology’in Wang Yangming’s Theory of Mind but also drawn lessons from Kant’s Theory of Practical Reason. As a result,’Neo-Confucianism of Song’ advances a new theory of’Liangxin as ontology’. By stressing the reality of the theory should be proved by individual moral practice, the idealistic and realistic Moral-Metaphysics and the ontological status of moral individuals were eventually established.As with’Neo-Confucianism of Song’, Zhang Junmai’s concept of freedom is also divided into two levels:post-metaphysics and metaphysics. In the post-metaphysics concept of political freedom, Zhang Junmai considers the balance of individual rights and state power as its substance. He sees individuals as the value subjects of enjoying rights and the state as the subject of holding power in fact. It is such a duality tendency of political subject that has brought tension to his concept of political freedom:In terms of individual rights, he stresses that freedom is the core of human rights and is equally enjoyed without any interference of the state or the other individuals; in terms of state power, although he expressed the notion of’popular sovereignty’ in the’Three People’s Principles’, Zhang also stresses that the unity of national administration is of great significance in protecting individual rights, thus he advocated that individuals should submit to the state. Hence, he proposed the principle of check and balance to prevent the abuse of state power; on the other hand, he considered’The Third Democracy’ as the national foundation, advocating’revised democratic politics’and planned economy. Such nationalism has formed tension against his liberal standpoint. His concept of political freedom, however, does not deviate from the basic position of liberalism, but is consistent with the viewpoint of New-Liberalism.The above-mentioned tension certainly comes from his concept of ontological freedom. In the metaphysical concept of ontological freedom, Zhang Junmai, with ’Spiritual Freedom’as the core, works hard to lay the foundation for modern political freedom and establishment of the modern nation of China as well.’Spiritual Freedom’ is the integration of’Will Freedom’and’Freedom of Liangxin’.’Will Freedom’has an obvious source of western philosophy, especially closely related with Kant’s concept of free will;’Freedom of Liangxin’,deeply rooted in Confucianism, originated directly from Wang Yangming’s concept of ’Liangzhi’.However, both Kant’s philosophy and that of Wang Yangming belongs to transcendental philosophy; the absolute subject established is individuals preset based on some certain moral sense. Therefore, the ontological freedom is individual freedom with moral self-discipline as the premise, which determines the essence of spiritual freedom. Thus,’Spiritual Freedom’, on the one hand, reveals its modernity through establishing individual freedom according to ontology; on the other hand, it dispels the ontological status of individual freedom based on the preset moral sense. In addition, it views the state as the embodiment of transcendental moral, providing a reasonable basis for individuals to submit to the state. It is the theoretical origin of Zhang’s duality tendency on political freedom. It shows that’Spiritual Freedom’cannot lay the foundation for modern political freedom; instead, it actually results into Zhang’s ideological trend of nationalism.Theoretical defects of his ontological freedom is because Zhang Junmai sets the ’Spiritual Freedom’to be self-evident original given concept in a transcendental philosophy approach, thus occluding life as the source of freedom, which essentially exposes there are the serious limitations of his horizon of thoughts, namely the lack of the concept of source freedom. The so-called’Source Freedom’(“本源自由”)is that it is to trace the question that is’how to make subject and one’s freedom possible’:If freedom always belongs to some subject, it should be to get to the bottom that is how to generate the subject. Therefore,’Source Freedom’is essence of’the source of freedom’, that is to say, the source of all subjects to possible origins, including absolute subject and relative subject. Here it is’Being’or to say life as the former subjectivity, which always leads subjective freedom to pop up’by itself appearing in a ’Let……’("让……) way. And it shows that ’Source Freedom’is not the true sense of freedom, but only through’Source Freedom’ can we have a thorough explanation about freedom. This is due to the primordial significance of’Source Freedom’to the theoretical construction of freedom:Synchronically, as the former subjectivity, ’Source Freedom’ precedes any subjectivity beings, thus becoming the original source of all subjective freedom; Diachronically, as open the border,’Source Freedom’ constantly shows new possibilities, thereby establishing a new subjectivity, gives a new freedom, which determines the duration of freedom has different times because of’life as the Source’flowing in perpetuity. However, due to Zhang Junmai’s lack of ’Source Freedom’, so he cannot answer’how to make freedom possible’, nor win a new freedom from the present life, but ultimately stifles freedom.Similarly, the limitations of this thinking are the root of the defects of ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’. As the gradation of’inward Sage’(“内圣”层面)of ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’is a notion of no source that it was constructed by the ’reserving traditional culture’of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, it is difficult to completely get rid of the shackles of pre-modern ideas and finish the modern transformation, although the gradation of’outward King’(“外王”层面)of ’Neo-Confucianism of Song’ has its positive and new side, it doesn’t have the corresponding ontological support, thereby resulting in the fracture between ’reserving traditional culture’ and ’establishing new national spirit’.Through the analysis on Zhang Junmai’s concept of freedom, the author believes that the construction of contemporary Confucian concept of freedom should first break away from the thinking model that the object oriented mode of thinking of ’Metaphysics and post-Metaphysics’ is changed into the source horizon of thoughts. That is to say, if we want to base on modern lifestyle, we should criticize and inherit the traditional Confucianism, criticizing western liberalism at the same time, and then reconstruct the Confucian metaphysical subjectivity to create Confucian ontological freedom, and reconstruct the Confucian post-metaphysical subjectivity to develop Confucian political freedom.