Public places such as squares and parks are tangible public areas, and there is also an intangible space that belongs to public areas, such as public safety, public health, public rights and even public discourse. The public sphere is an important concept of modern philosophy and social science, which refers to the space corresponding to the private sphere and shared by citizens.
Whether it is the construction of public places such as squares and libraries, or the strengthening of public order consciousness and public welfare thought, it belongs to a solidification of the public domain. It can be said that with the progress of the times, the construction of the public sphere will be more comprehensive and complete, and all kinds of public rights returned by society to citizens will be more complete. This is also the ideal picture that many social reformers expect. The realization of this beautiful wish must begin with a full understanding of the concept of public domain. A sign of society now is the clarity of the public sphere. When social citizens realize that they and the public sphere must coexist and develop together in this field, they must establish and abide by a certain common order, that is, public order. If there is no public order, just like cars crowded on the road have no driving rules, it will ultimately harm the interests of all parties concerned. The consciousness of rules and order is the concomitant product of the concept of public domain. Being able to consciously maintain public order and abide by public morality is the basic quality of modern citizens. At the same time, in a society, public utilities belong to the nature of public welfare and are social rights that every member of society should enjoy morally and legally. For example, compulsory education, medical and health benefits and so on. However, if the division of the public domain is not clear, or the degree of attention to the public domain is not enough, the mercenary will take advantage of it and gain benefits. If more people use public utilities to make profits, then public morality will decline and the concept of social welfare will never be established. In a society without the concept of public welfare, we can't expect more people to be charitable spontaneously, nor can we be optimistic about the social moral atmosphere.
As far as the reality of our country is concerned, in the long-term agricultural society, the division between private sphere and public sphere has always been lacking. Under the small-scale production mode in feudal society, every household was accustomed to decentralized production, and the feudal system did not give farmers enough rights to pay attention. It can be said that many public areas are in a state of scarcity. With the development of modern civilization, the construction of social public sphere has gradually become necessary. In other words, if society wants to make progress, it must have a clear and sound public sphere.
Therefore, for China people who have no tradition of public sphere for a long time, strengthening public sphere consciousness can be regarded as a make-up lesson. The subject consciousness, citizen consciousness and people-oriented concept that we advocate now have direct or indirect relations with the public sphere. When public rights are clear, independent of personal affairs, the rights enjoyed by members of society are clear, and the word "public" of citizens has also been strengthened, people will change from members of society to citizens. Only when we begin to position ourselves as social citizens can people's subjective consciousness be established on the basis and there will be real respect for people. The topic in the public domain seems to be everyone's business, which has little to do with individuals. In fact, everyone's interests are closely related to it. Every care we pay will eventually return to ourselves, so cultivating the public sphere is actually building a happy life for ourselves and future generations.