The Value-orientation Of Modern Intellectual At Folk-post And Its Historical Destiny

Intellectual issue is very conspicuous in the modern and post-modern contexts, and is discussed widely and investigated extensively. Among many divergences the definition and value-orientation of intellectual are the focus of discussion. This article differentiates the Chinese intellectual in the transitional period as three ideal types, i.e., intellectual at court, at square, at folk-post based on their different value-orientations that were proposed by Chen Sihe. In accordance with three value-dimensions of knowledge, politics and the public, the author chooses Zhou Zuoren as a case after the May Fourth Movement to analyze the fundamental value implications of the intellectual at folk-post in order to describe the process that the Chinese liberal intellectuals became self-conscious, constructed their subjectivities and deviated from the traditional intellectual norms in the modern framework. In the end we explore the historical destiny of that value which was marginalized in China in the whole 20th century. So this article composes three parts. Firstly, define intellectual and intellectual at folk-post; secondly, interpret Zhou Zuoren's orientation at folk-post; lastly, take a sweeping view of that value in the last century in China.