粗粗比较五四启蒙家与晚清维新派思想家对个体自由问题的论述,能够发现一些有趣的现象:陈独秀、胡适等人在五四时期倡导的个体自由在某种程度上不过是晚清维新思想家严复、梁启超等有关主张的重提。两个时代思想家对这个问题的思考基于相同的出发点:寻找一条快捷的使民族走上富强的途径。然而,他们的主张在各自的时代产生的社会结果却有着天壤之别:晚清知识分子无保留地接受了严复介绍的达尔文“物竞天择,优胜 Rough comparison of May Fourth enlightenment home and late Qing reformers thinkings on individual freedom issues can reveal some interesting phenomena: the individual freedom advocated by Chen Duxiu and Hu Shi in the May 4th Movement is to some extent nothing but the late Qing reform Thinkers such as Yan Fu and Liang Qichao, the thinker. The thinking of the two age thinkers on this issue is based on the same starting point: to find a quick way to make the nation prosperous. However, the social consequences of their assertions in their own times are vastly different: In the late Qing period, intellectuals accepted Darwin’s introduction of "natural selection and winning