Defending Marx's View Of Liberty

Isaiah Berlin is a famous contemporary liberal thinker in the West.Berlin establishes a new concept of liberty based on value pluralism.He distinguishes two concepts of liberty: negative liberty and positive liberty.It breaks the rationalist tradition of classical liberalism,arouses extensive discussions,has a profound impact on western liberalism,and opens a new direction for the development of liberalism.From the standpoint of the bourgeoisie,Berlin defends negative liberty,criticizes Marx's view of liberty simply as a kind of positive liberty,and attributes the totalitarianism of the Soviet Union's political practice to Marx.Therefore,it is necessary to respond to Berlin's criticism of Marx's view of liberty from the perspective of Marx.This article includes the following four sections:The first part is to study the basic content of Berlin's view of liberty based on Berlin's value pluralism.In "Two Concepts of Liberty ",Berlin distinguishes between negative liberty and positive liberty,and refutes the priority of negative liberty by criticizing positive liberty.Berlin is not completely opposed to positive liberty,but is opposed to extreme positive liberty from the perspective of historical facts.Berlin advocates pluralism of value,which contains negative liberty and provides theoretical justification for the priority of negative liberty.Pluralistic value theory is the foothold of Berlin's criticism of Marx's view of liberty.The second part is to study Berlin's criticism of Marx's view of liberty from three aspects: nature,basis and consequences.Berlin regards Marx's liberty as positive liberty based on rationalist monism.Also he believes that Marx's view of liberty is a distortion and abuse of positive liberty,which leads to totalitarian rule of the Soviet Union's planning system.So Berlin adheres to negative liberty,defends individual liberty,and delimits the minimum range of individual liberty.The third part is to respond to Berlin's criticism of Marx's view of liberty from Marx's perspective.Marx's view of liberty is not the simple positive liberty as Berlin calls it,but the internal unity of negative liberty and positive liberty.Marx's view of liberty is based on the critique of traditional rationalism.Marx understand liberty based on practice.Marx's view of liberty is embodied in Marx's historical materialism and it indicates the real liberation of man.The fourth part is the reflection on the origin of Berlin's one-sided interpretation of Marx's view of liberty.There are two reasons for Berlin's one-sided interpretation of Marx's view of liberty: First,Berlin lives in the 20 th century and experiences the different world to Marx.Thus they have different theoretical positions.And their understanding of liberty is different with each other.Second,Berlin does not have a comprehensive understanding of Marx's works.Under the influence of the interpretation of the Second International and the Soviet Union,Marx's view of liberty that Berlin criticizes is the result of the vulgar and dogmatic understanding of Marxist in history.Therefore,Berlin's understanding of Marx's view of liberty is based on the distorted image of Marx,and it is indefensible.It is important to respond to Berlin's criticism of Marx's view of liberty and to defend Marx's view of liberty.It opens up a new path to understand Marx's view of liberty.Also,it has guiding significance influence on China's socialist modernization course.