The Irrationalistic View of Aesthetic Freedom and the Philosophical Sources of Social Discontent of Liu Xiaobo

Abstract

This article is a study of Liu Xiaobo, a widely recognized spokesman for the social discontent of the younger Chinese generation. As a believer in Western irrationalism, Liu infers all human things from sensuousness. The priority of sensuousness over reason is at the core of his philosophical discourse; thus the outburst of sensuousness is taken as the realization of a ”genuine” humanity. Using Nietzsche`s ”superman” as a model of heroic individualism and moral nihilism, Liu moves toward Sartre`s early notions of absolute freedom, emphasizing personal, unique, society-alienated self-choices. Taking an extremely antiharmonious approach to freedom, Liu defines conflict, cruelty, and the will to power as the essential elements of the aesthetic state. With this vision of the human world, Liu insists as a radical antitraditionalist that Confucianism is responsible for the formation and survival of the ”slave personality”-his terminological counterpart of Nietzsche`s ”slave morality.” Thus, according to Liu, the first step of China`s modernization is to develop a transcendent antitraditionalism, and transform the Chinese national character, in particular the collective personality of Chinese intellectuals. Such a step should be a national task.