Freedom is the power or right to speak, act and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws".
In one definition, something is "free" if it can change and is not constrained in its present state. Physicists and chemists use the word in this sense. In its origin, the English word "freedom" relates etymologically to the word "friend".Philosophy and religion sometimes associate it with free will, as an alternative to determinism or predestination.
In modern liberal nations, freedom is considered a right, especially freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press.
Types
In political discourse, political freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy, and a distinction is made between countries that are free of dictatorships. In the area of civil rights, a strong distinction is made between freedom and slavery and there is conflict between people who think all races, religions, genders, and social classes should be equally free and people who think freedom is the exclusive right of certain groups. Frequently discussed are freedom of assembly, freedom of association, freedom of choice, and freedom of speech.
Liberty
Sometimes the terms "freedom" and "liberty" tend to be used interchangeably. Sometimes subtle distinctions are made between "freedom" and "liberty"John Stuart Mill, for example, differentiated liberty from freedom in that freedom is primarily, if not exclusively, the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do, whereas liberty concerns the absence of arbitrary restraints and takes into account the rights of all involved. As such, the exercise of liberty is subject to capability and limited by the rights of others.
Isaiah Berlin made a distinction between "positive" freedom and "negative" freedom in his seminal 1958 lecture "Two concepts of liberty". Charles Taylor elaborates that negative liberty means an ability to do what one wants, without external obstacles and positive liberty is the ability to fulfill one's purposes. Another way to describe negative liberty is freedom from limiting forces (such as freedom from fear, freedom from want, and freedom from discrimination), but descriptions of freedom and liberty generally do not invoke having liberty from anything.
Wendy Hui Kyong Chun explains these differences in terms of their relation to institutions:
"Liberty is linked to human subjectivity; freedom is not. The Declaration of Independence, for example, describes men as having liberty and the nation as being free. Free will—the quality of being free from the control of fate or necessity—may first have been attributed to human will, but Newtonian physics attributes freedom—degrees of freedom, free bodies—to objects."
"Freedom differs from liberty as control differs from discipline. Liberty, like discipline, is linked to institutions and political parties, whether liberal or libertarian; freedom is not. Although freedom can work for or against institutions, it is not bound to them—it travels through unofficial networks. To have liberty is to be liberated from something; to be free is to be self-determining, autonomous. Freedom can or cannot exist within a state of liberty: one can be liberated yet unfree, or free yet enslaved (Orlando Patterson has argued in Freedom: Freedom in the Making of Western Culture that freedom arose from the yearnings of slaves)."
From domination
Freedom from domination was considered by Phillip Pettit, Quentin Skinner and John P. McCormick as a defining aspect of freedom. While operative control is the ability to direct ones actions on a day-to-day basis, that freedom can depend on the whim of another, also known as reserve control. Phillip Petit and Jamie Susskind argue that both operative and reserve control are needed for democracy and freedom.
See also
- Freedom, 1985 statue by Alfred Tibor in Columbus, Ohio
- Freedom & Civilization, 1944 book by Bronislaw Malinowski about freedom from anthropological perspective
- Freedom of thought
- Freethought
- Freedom Riders – civil-rights activists
- Freedom songs
- Harm principle
- Internet freedom
- List of freedom indices
- Miss Freedom, 1889 statue on the dome of the Georgia State Capitol (US)
- Real Freedom, a term coined by political philosopher and economist Phillippe Van Parijs
- Statue of Freedom, an 1863 sculpture by Thomas Crawford atop the dome of the US Capitol
References
- Stevenson, Angus; Lindberg, Christine A., eds. (2010-01-01). "New Oxford American Dictionary". Oxford Reference. doi:10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-539288-3. Archived from the original on 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2023-06-02.[clarification needed]
- "free". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
- Baumeister, Roy F.; Monroe, Andrew E. (2014). "Recent Research on Free Will". Advances in Experimental Social Psychology. Vol. 50. pp. 1–52. doi:10.1016/B978-0-12-800284-1.00001-1. ISBN 978-0128002841.
- See Bertrand Badie, Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Leonardo Morlino, International Encyclopedia of Political Science (2011), p. 1447: "Throughout this entry, incidentally, the terms freedom and liberty are used interchangeably".
- Anna Wierzbicka, Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words (1997), pp. 130–131: "Unfortunately... the English words freedom and liberty are used interchangeably. This is confusing because these two do not mean the same, and in fact what [Isaiah] Berlin calls "the notion of 'negative' freedom" has become largely incorporated in the word freedom, whereas the word liberty in its earlier meaning was much closer to the Latin libertas and in its current meaning reflects a different concept, which is a product of the Anglo-Saxon culture".
- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics (2008), p. 9: "Although used interchangeably, freedom and liberty have significantly different etymologies and histories. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the Old English frei (derived from Sanskrit) meant dear and described all those close or related to the head of the family (hence friends). Conversely in Latin, libertas denoted the legal state of freedom versus enslavement and was later extended to children (liberi), meaning literally the free members of the household. Those who are one's friends are free; those who are not are slaves".
- Mill, John Stuart. [1859] 1869. On Liberty (4th ed.). London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. pp. 21–22 Archived 17 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine.
- Taylor, Charles (1985). "What's Wrong With Negative Liberty". Philosophical Papers: Volume 2, Philosophy and the Human Sciences. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 211–229. ISBN 978-0521317498. Archived from the original on 28 February 2023. Retrieved 28 February 2023.
- Berlin, Isaiah. Four Essays on Liberty. 1969.
- Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics (2008), p. 9.
- Springborg, Patricia (December 2001). "Republicanism, Freedom from Domination, and the Cambridge Contextual Historians". Political Studies. 49 (5): 851–876. doi:10.1111/1467-9248.00344. ISSN 0032-3217.
- Shnayderman, Ronen (2012). "Liberal vs. Republican Notions of Freedom". Political Studies. 60 (1): 44–58. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00900.x.
- Pettit, Philip (2014). Just freedom: a moral compass for a complex world. The Norton global ethics series (First ed.). New York: W.W. Norton & Company. pp. 2–3, 221. ISBN 978-0-393-06397-4.
- Susskind, Jamie (2022). "Ch. 2". The digital republic: on freedom and democracy in the 21st century (1st ed.). New York London: Pegasus Books. ISBN 978-1-64313-901-2.
External links
- "Freedom", BBC Radio 4 discussion with John Keane, Bernard Williams & Annabel Brett (In Our Time, 4 July 2002)
Freedom is the power or right to speak act and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of giving oneself one s own laws Four Freedoms a series of 1943 paintings by Norman Rockwell honoring Franklin D Roosevelt s Four Freedoms meant to describe the freedoms for which allied nations fought in World War II In one definition something is free if it can change and is not constrained in its present state Physicists and chemists use the word in this sense In its origin the English word freedom relates etymologically to the word friend Philosophy and religion sometimes associate it with free will as an alternative to determinism or predestination In modern liberal nations freedom is considered a right especially freedom of speech freedom of religion and freedom of the press TypesIn political discourse political freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy and a distinction is made between countries that are free of dictatorships In the area of civil rights a strong distinction is made between freedom and slavery and there is conflict between people who think all races religions genders and social classes should be equally free and people who think freedom is the exclusive right of certain groups Frequently discussed are freedom of assembly freedom of association freedom of choice and freedom of speech Liberty Sometimes the terms freedom and liberty tend to be used interchangeably Sometimes subtle distinctions are made between freedom and liberty John Stuart Mill for example differentiated liberty from freedom in that freedom is primarily if not exclusively the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do whereas liberty concerns the absence of arbitrary restraints and takes into account the rights of all involved As such the exercise of liberty is subject to capability and limited by the rights of others Isaiah Berlin made a distinction between positive freedom and negative freedom in his seminal 1958 lecture Two concepts of liberty Charles Taylor elaborates that negative liberty means an ability to do what one wants without external obstacles and positive liberty is the ability to fulfill one s purposes Another way to describe negative liberty is freedom from limiting forces such as freedom from fear freedom from want and freedom from discrimination but descriptions of freedom and liberty generally do not invoke having liberty from anything Wendy Hui Kyong Chun explains these differences in terms of their relation to institutions Liberty is linked to human subjectivity freedom is not The Declaration of Independence for example describes men as having liberty and the nation as being free Free will the quality of being free from the control of fate or necessity may first have been attributed to human will but Newtonian physics attributes freedom degrees of freedom free bodies to objects Freedom differs from liberty as control differs from discipline Liberty like discipline is linked to institutions and political parties whether liberal or libertarian freedom is not Although freedom can work for or against institutions it is not bound to them it travels through unofficial networks To have liberty is to be liberated from something to be free is to be self determining autonomous Freedom can or cannot exist within a state of liberty one can be liberated yet unfree or free yet enslaved Orlando Patterson has argued in Freedom Freedom in the Making of Western Culture that freedom arose from the yearnings of slaves From domination Freedom from domination was considered by Phillip Pettit Quentin Skinner and John P McCormick as a defining aspect of freedom While operative control is the ability to direct ones actions on a day to day basis that freedom can depend on the whim of another also known as reserve control Phillip Petit and Jamie Susskind argue that both operative and reserve control are needed for democracy and freedom See alsoAnarchism portalLiberalism portalLibertarianism portalFreedom 1985 statue by Alfred Tibor in Columbus Ohio Freedom amp Civilization 1944 book by Bronislaw Malinowski about freedom from anthropological perspective Freedom of thought Freethought Freedom Riders civil rights activists Freedom songs Harm principle Internet freedom List of freedom indices Miss Freedom 1889 statue on the dome of the Georgia State Capitol US Real Freedom a term coined by political philosopher and economist Phillippe Van Parijs Statue of Freedom an 1863 sculpture by Thomas Crawford atop the dome of the US CapitolReferencesStevenson Angus Lindberg Christine A eds 2010 01 01 New Oxford American Dictionary Oxford Reference doi 10 1093 acref 9780195392883 001 0001 ISBN 978 0 19 539288 3 Archived from the original on 2020 03 12 Retrieved 2023 06 02 clarification needed free Oxford English Dictionary Online ed Oxford University Press Subscription or participating institution membership required Baumeister Roy F Monroe Andrew E 2014 Recent Research on Free Will Advances in Experimental Social Psychology Vol 50 pp 1 52 doi 10 1016 B978 0 12 800284 1 00001 1 ISBN 978 0128002841 See Bertrand Badie Dirk Berg Schlosser Leonardo Morlino International Encyclopedia of Political Science 2011 p 1447 Throughout this entry incidentally the terms freedom and liberty are used interchangeably Anna Wierzbicka Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words 1997 pp 130 131 Unfortunately the English words freedom and liberty are used interchangeably This is confusing because these two do not mean the same and in fact what Isaiah Berlin calls the notion of negative freedom has become largely incorporated in the word freedom whereas the word liberty in its earlier meaning was much closer to the Latin libertas and in its current meaning reflects a different concept which is a product of the Anglo Saxon culture Wendy Hui Kyong Chun Control and Freedom Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics 2008 p 9 Although used interchangeably freedom and liberty have significantly different etymologies and histories According to the Oxford English Dictionary the Old English frei derived from Sanskrit meant dear and described all those close or related to the head of the family hence friends Conversely in Latin libertas denoted the legal state of freedom versus enslavement and was later extended to children liberi meaning literally the free members of the household Those who are one s friends are free those who are not are slaves Mill John Stuart 1859 1869 On Liberty 4th ed London Longmans Green Reader and Dyer pp 21 22 Archived 17 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine Taylor Charles 1985 What s Wrong With Negative Liberty Philosophical Papers Volume 2 Philosophy and the Human Sciences Cambridge Cambridge University Press pp 211 229 ISBN 978 0521317498 Archived from the original on 28 February 2023 Retrieved 28 February 2023 Berlin Isaiah Four Essays on Liberty 1969 Wendy Hui Kyong Chun Control and Freedom Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics 2008 p 9 Springborg Patricia December 2001 Republicanism Freedom from Domination and the Cambridge Contextual Historians Political Studies 49 5 851 876 doi 10 1111 1467 9248 00344 ISSN 0032 3217 Shnayderman Ronen 2012 Liberal vs Republican Notions of Freedom Political Studies 60 1 44 58 doi 10 1111 j 1467 9248 2011 00900 x Pettit Philip 2014 Just freedom a moral compass for a complex world The Norton global ethics series First ed New York W W Norton amp Company pp 2 3 221 ISBN 978 0 393 06397 4 Susskind Jamie 2022 Ch 2 The digital republic on freedom and democracy in the 21st century 1st ed New York London Pegasus Books ISBN 978 1 64313 901 2 External linksLook up freedom in Wiktionary the free dictionary Wikiquote has quotations related to Freedom Freedom BBC Radio 4 discussion with John Keane Bernard Williams amp Annabel Brett In Our Time 4 July 2002
