牟宗三主張，儒學歷經先秦與宋明兩期的創立與開展，在現代社會第三期的時代任務即是根據前兩期所奠立的內聖之學，開出新外王─民主、科學，也就是依循儒家傳統內聖外王的架構來吸納西方的民主、科學。本文將要討論在牟宗三此一構想下，儒家思想為何不僅可與西方民主政治相容，而且還能進一步據以批判西方個人主義政治自由的流弊。主要討論的問題包括：儒家思想中的道德自主性與自由平等有何內在關聯？政治自由為何必須預設道德自由？牟宗三所論的「儒家式自由」跟西方政治思想在何處可以接軌？在何處顯其特殊性？它與「消極自由」、「積極自由」的關係為何？最後將透過霍耐特「社會自由」的理念作為例示性的參照，探討牟宗三所論的「儒家式自由」在當代是否能有新的反思角

Following its founding during the pre-Qin dynasty and its development into Neo-Confucianism over the course of the Song and Ming Dynasties, Confucianism has entered its third stage with the chief mission being, as Zong-San Mou asserts, to draw on the traditional Confucian framework of “inner sage”(內聖) and “outer king”(外王) in order to assimilate Western democratic and scientific principles. This article aims to discuss why Mou conceives that traditional Confucianism is not only compatible with Western democracy, but also capable of remedying deficiencies caused by the individualism of Western political freedom. We focus on the following main questions: Why does Mou believe that political freedom is predicated upon moral freedom? Is there any point at which the Confucian freedom proposed by Mou could intersect with Western political thought? What unique characteristics distinguish the two? How does Mou view the relationship between negative freedom and positive freedom? At the end of this paper, we will also attempt to offer a preliminary evaluation as to whether the Confucian freedom proposed by Mou can be understood from a new perspective, thus exploring its potential for reinterpretation