Social Freedom and Individuality in the Realm of Necessity—— A Response to the Debate on the Relationship between Labor and Self-realization

The relationship between labor and individual self-realization has been reintroduced in the contemporary critique of the capitalist work system.Some scholars of Anglo-American Marxism with an analytical background have found that Marx does not seem to have consistently supported the proposition that “labor contributes to self-realization” by reinterpreting relevant accounts such as the Realm of Freedom and have given three types of “shifts,”“oscillations,” and “consistency” to the proposition.In fact,however,it is the existence of freedom in the realm of necessity that is the condition for the establishment of freedom in the realm of freedom.Freedom in the realm of necessity is not only fundamental to the social construction of Communism as a whole,but also necessary for the realization of the individuality of its members.Rethinking Marx’s account of freedom in the realm of necessity and its connection to the self-realization of the individual member of society helps us to grasp the decisive differences between Marx and the dominant political philosophy of our time and the peculiar advantages of the solution.