Value and Freedom

要旨

It is generally accepted that the human freedom is not only the foundation of the constructive principles of modern society but the most fundamental condition that enables the human action in general.The formal expression of human action is'choice'. And freedom means freedom of choice. Naturally, in order to choose something, one must have one's own criterion of choice, and we call it'value'. If one has a specific value, one's choice is done automatically, and we cannot find there freedom which is characteristic only of man. So the essence of man's freedom lies in the autonomy of his choice of action. We call a man autonomous when he has the ability to choose his value that enables him to choose his action.But we find a paradoxical character in this autonomy. Man is necessarily not free in the choice of value that he follows when he choose his action. In the choice of value, he is always irrational. So man's freedom or rationality is based upon irrationality.Furthermore, in order for a society to form a stable system, this autonomy, which is the foundation of man's freedom, must be banned, and man's freedom can only be realized as negation of such a system.

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