Abstract: The encounter of Marx with “enlightenment” is featured with changing attitudes from positive identification to critical using of ideological resources, eventually to the identify “enlightenment” as capitalism. In his deepening study on political economics, Marx abandoned the capitalist domain of “enlightenment”, promoted from the logic of rights centered with “the abstract man” to the liberation logic oriented by “man's free and all-round development”. The value standpoint, principle and orientation of the western “enlightenment” cannot be directly interfaced with Marxist philosophy, nor be interpreted as the overall framework of China's ideological emancipation since the reform and opening up. Due to the complex and dramatic changes in social ideology and culture in constructing socialist core values, the essential differences between Marx's philosophy and the capitalist “enlightenment” must be highlighted, and the core values should be taken as representative of the socialist spiritual civilization.

Key words: enlightenment, liberation, socialist core values