自由与责任:一种政治哲学的分析

Liberty and Duty:An Analysis of Political Philosophy

自由和责任是一对孪生概念。但分别从自由出发和从责任出发来处理责任—自由的关系,我们看到的是两种根本不同的观点。这两种观点体现了两种不同的主体性,即权利在先意识和责任在先意识。分析这两种主体性在社会生活和政治生活中的运行,可以帮助我们从根本上理解当代中西方政治生活的差异性。在权利意义上的自由指的是人在选择中至少面临一种"想要选项";而责任概念的关键点是个体面向未来、他人和它者。权利在先意识引导着自由主体性,在政治生活上主张把某种普遍的"想要选项"作为人的基本权利,这种政治称为权利政治。责任在先意识所引导的责任主体性,则把政治生活奠基于主体对未来、他人和任务的深入理解,要求每一个人不断培养自己的责任感,并对政治家的责任感提出更高要求,这便是问责政治。这两种由不同主体性所承担的政治体制各有利弊,简单地互相否定不会给我们人类带来任何好处。

Liberty and duty are twins. Yet, we may see two fundamentally different patterns of interaction between them when starting to examine them respectively with liberty or duty. Two different types of subjectivity, that is, right consciousness and duty consciousness, are analyzed and explored and it is deeply believed that some analyses into their roles in social life and political life will help us understand the political differences between China and western countries. We begin with defining liberty and duty. In the modern society, liberty is referred to human rights. Conceptually, an individual is free only if this person can make a choice from alternatives among which at least one is what the person wants, so defined as a right. As to duty, it is defined in terms of future, others and tasks. Right consciousness demonstrates liberty subjectivity, which pursues a political life based on some universal rights available to all citizens. We call it the politic of rights. Meanwhile, duty consciousness displays duty subjectivity, which seeks a political life governed by the consciousness which is able to profoundly understand the future, others and assigned tasks. The political life requires all citizens in the society to foster their duty consciousness and demands deep consciousness of responsibility for politicians. It is called politics of duty. Some comparison of their advantages and disadvantages reveals that their co-existence and peaceful interactions may benefit humanity.