个人自主:自由主义的核心价值

自由主义的根本精神是个人主义,个人主义的根本含义是对个人自主能力的尊重。自由主义以个人自主为其目的价值,其他基本价值包括多元主义、宽容、自由、正义、平等等皆以这一目的价值为根据。个人自主以消极自由和积极自由为其必要条件。仅仅强调消极自由会纵容盲目、非理性的个人行为,而仅仅强调积极自由则会走向专制主义。反自由主义者们往往在批评以至抨击过度的消极自由现实时,走向反个人主义的积极自由所必然演绎的专制主义。只有把消极自由与包含个人自主的积极自由相结合,才能克服上述两个极端。

Individual Autonomy: the Core Value of Liberalism

The essential spirit of liberalism is individualism,and the true meaning of individualism is in its respect to individual's autonomous capability.Liberalism sets individual autonomy as its intrinsic value,and its other fundamental values,such as pluralism,tolerance,freedom,justice and equality,are grounded on this intrinsic value.Individualism takes both negative liberty and the positive one as its prerequisite condition.Partial emphasis on negative liberty will lead to unrestrained aimless and irrational individual behavior,and an over strengthened positive liberty will be driven toward despotism.Those anti-liberalists are always moving toward the despotism as a result of opposing positive freedom of individualism when they criticize and even accuse the situation of excessively negative liberty.Only combining negative liberty with the positive one containing individual autonomy,could we overcome the two extreme poles.