论梁启超的“自由观”及其可能的盲区——以《论自由》与《新民说》为核心的考察

On Liang Qichao's View of Freedom and Its Possible Blindness——The Inspection around On Freedom and Theory of Awakening People

梁启超是近代向中国引介西方自由概念的重要人物。他最初受社会达尔文主义影响,将自由等同于强权者的为所欲为与放纵。但是不久之后他对于自由概念的理解就发生变化,指出自由必须是人人共享的价值,强调"人人自由"的重要。而梁启超所理解的"自由"是一个内涵异常丰富的概念。它既指法律保障下的自我选择,也是"真正自我"与个性的展现;它同时还包含民主的意涵,最后它还意指团体自由尤其是国家的独立自主。梁启超对于这些不同意涵之间可能存在的张力甚至矛盾并没有清晰的认知,他在无意识中似乎认为这些不同要素相互间能够比较容易达致一种和谐与平衡的状态,在这方面可以说他过于乐观。尤其是在近代中国救亡图存的大背景下,梁启超理解中的这一盲区可能在实践中造成对自由概念本身的歪曲。

Liang Qichao is an important thinker who had introduced the western idea of freedom into Modern China. At first, he was affected by the Social Darwinism and had equated freedom with the indul- gence of the strong. But then his understanding of freedom had changed. He had pointed out and empha- sized that freedom must be enjoyed by everyone. The freedom understood by Liang Qichao is an idea with especially rich connotation. It is not only the self choice in the legal protection, but also the show of indi- viduality or ＂the true self＂. It has the meaning of democracy. At last, it means the independence of groups especially the states. Liang Qichao hadn＇t realized that there may be some contradictions among these connotation. On the contrary, he had unconsciously considered that there would be a natural harmo- ny and balance among these elements. In this respect, he was too optimistic. In Modern China, the key issue is to save our country so that it may survive. In this historical background, the blindness in Liang Qichao＇ s understanding of freedom may result in the distortion of freedom in practice.