Liberty

Two concepts of liberty

1958 lecture by Isaiah Berlin in which he sought to distinguish between negative & positive liberty & asserted that the former must be a necessary precursor to the latter in avoiding totalitarian abuse.

False consciousness

A Marxian concept denoting lack of freedom under the economic & ideological constraints of capitalism. Freedom cannot be achieved in a state of alienation & one must be freed from hegemony in order to realise one's potential as a human being.

Fallibility

A term associated with J S Mill suggesting none of us are perfect or have a definitive answer to the question of "the good life" so we must be free to experiment.

Totalitarianism

According to Berlin an inherent danger of positive liberty (if negative liberty is not first secured) due to the implication that the state understands the people's best interests better than they themselves do.

Republicanism

According to this tradition freedom must include participation in the (democratic) political process & involvement in the decisions that shape one's life.

Human agent

An autonomous being able to make free choices based on either their desires (negative freedom) or their best interests (positive freedom) depending on the conception of liberty utilised.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Author of The Social Contract who argues that anyone who acts against what he calls the General Will does not understand their own best interests & so must be "forced to be free."

Positive liberty

Concerned with achieving autonomy by accessing one's higher, rational self. Can imply state intervention in order to provide resources necessary for self-development. Arguably involves authoritarian/totalitarian assumptions about what is best for one. Often associated with religious moral teachings & Marxism.

Paternalistic

Describes a state that intervenes excessively in the lives of citizens in the manner of an overprotective parent.

Free market

For liberals, the only economic system that is responsive enough to the demands of individuals to ensure negative freedom. For Marxists, in particular, it leaves most people in an impoverished condition &, effectively, capitalist 'wage slaves.'

Negative liberty

Freedom from interference; this encompasses both the actions of others & state regulation. Concerned with marking out a sphere in which one is able to act as one wishes as much as possible without infringing the freedom of others.

Principle of private judgement

Godwin's (individualist anarchist) principle that autonomy from the state is the means by which people develop the facility to make judgments as free individuals.

Thomas Hobbes

He described liberty as "the silence of the laws."

Conservatism

Ideology that questions the liberal appeal to individual autonomy in favour of a pragmatic, organic approach to liberty emphasising inherited liberties & social harmony in the context of traditional institutions.

Law

In a democracy it, arguably, expresses the will of the people & protects their freedoms, although a commitment to negative liberty suggests its extent should be as narrow as possible.

Liberty

In the sphere of political philosophy it refers to individual autonomy; either the ability to act without external interference or the capacity to act in one's own best interests; "doing what one desires" (Mill) or "the absence of obstacles to possible choices & activities." (Berlin)

Effective freedom

Involves the actual power to act. For this type of freedom non-interference is insufficient, one must actually be able perform the action e.g. I am not free to go swimming if I can't swim.

Harm principle

J S Mill: "...the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not sufficient warrant."

Autonomy

Literally means "self rule;" implies self-knowledge, moral discernment, & rational control over ones appetites & desires e.g. Plato's chariot driver analogy.

Minimal state

Locke emphasised the importance of this for citizens so that they can attain "...a state of perfect freedom to order their actions & dispose of their possessions & persons as they think fit...without asking leave or depending on the will of any other man."

Ideological hegemony

Marxist term denoting the dominance of the ideas of the ruling class in a capitalist economic system so that the true, revolutionary interests of the working class are hidden from them.

First principle of justice

Rawls: "...each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others."

Formal freedom

The absence of interference alone. This kind of freedom is entirely theoretical & abstract, & can be contrasted with effective freedom.

Protection agency

The legitimate extent of the state, for Nozick. Any exceeding of this limited role & intervention in the private sphere of individual lives would infringe their natural rights & freedoms.

Liberalism

The political tradition most synonymous with negative liberty e.g. Mill: "...the only freedom which deserves the name is that of pursuing our own good in our own way."