The Threshold of Freedom: A Synthetic Reconstruction of Determinism and Absolute Freedom from the Perspective of Practical Philosophy and Historical Materialism

This paper aims to sublate the classic antinomy between Jean-Paul Sartre’s existentialist notion of “absolute freedom” and the category of “necessity” in historical materialism. Through a systematic exposition of the original “Threshold Theory of Freedom,” this study proposes that freedom is not an a priori, homogeneous ontological state, but rather a high-order emergent capacity achieved through the dialectical development of praxis and cognition within concrete historical-social structures. While upholding the objective constraints of social existence, this theory provides a robust theoretical fulcrum for human agency. It successfully synthesizes Sartrean “projects,” Marxist practical dialectics, Bourdieu’s reflexive sociology, and Freire’s critical pedagogy into a creative framework. Ultimately, this paper argues that the history of human civilization is a dialectical process wherein individuals and groups continuously break through structural “thresholds,” transforming the in-itself necessity into the for-itself practice of freedom.