Loss Of Freedom

Berdyaev is one of the most influential Russian thinkers in the 20^th century. He is well-known for his commitment to "freedom" and for this reason his philosophy is named "freedom philosophy."Berdyaev claims: Facing a world that is full of mediocrity, dullness, ugliness, and hypocrisy, we no other choice but to change it and build a new one. As a philosopher, he chooses philosophy as his weapon to liberate himself. He tries to articulate "new existence of new human beings" in his philosophy.Berdyaev is deeply concerned with the miserable situation of human beings; the problems he spends his whole life on are these: Why are human beings trapped in such a miserable and un-free situation? What causes the loss of freedom of human beings? In his mature stage in terms of philosophical thinking, he uses one word to answer this latter question, i.e. "objectification." For Berdyaev, objectification determines the relationship between human beings the world outside them, causes the loss of freedom, and ultimately, human beings live in a world alien to themselves.Furthermore, the very notion that makes his complicated philosophy a coherent whole is also "objectification." Therefore, the idea of objectification is the prerequisite of a truly understanding of Berdyaev's philosophy.Berdyaev's idea of objectification is his special interpretation of the world and the ultimate explanation of the evil and misery in the world. So, we cannot have a good understanding of his notion of "freedom" and the conflict between individuality and society, unless we grasp his idea of objectification.We might say that Berdyaev's philosophical mansion is built on his notion of objectification. His philosophy is about the critique and struggle against "objectification," on the basis of which, his other important conceptions are developed. "From objectification of freedom" is the permanent theme of Berdyaev's philosophy.Consequently, we must be first clear about his concept of objectification, and then we can discuss his freedom philosophy. My thesis is specially aimed at his idea of objectification. Here is how I proceed in my thesis:First, I discuss the origin and the original reality of objectification. Secondly, I mainly focus on the "objectification of 'being' " which is the utmost form of...