Inkwell Institute

Professor’s Classroom

Subject:  Political Theory/Philosophy

Paper #11

Now here is a subject that will give a person brain worms…..Freedom…….and it is scary what some think is freedom or liberty….they can mean the same things…..for instance free will means the ability of rational agents to exercise control over their actions, decisions, or choices….or a political freedom means the absence of interference with the sovereignty of an individual by the use of coercion or aggression….or a more pragmatic definition  the state of not being imprisoned, enslaved, or otherwise constrained.  No matter which meaning you embrace it is probably not what is actually originally meant by freedom.

Then we have liberty….a concept that identifies the condition in which the individual to act according to his or her own will. In feudal times, a liberty was an area of allodial land in which regalian rights had been waived.

Whether you want to define freedom/liberty or not, there are ways that the concept is viewed by the major political systems of the world. Yes, different political systems view freedom differently…..which best describes your beliefs on the subject?

Liberals–give priority to freedom as the supreme individualist value.  Classical liberals support negative freedom, understood as the absence of constraints or freedom of choice…modern liberals advocate positive freedom in the sense of personal development and human flourishing.

Conservative–traditionally endorse a weak view of freedom as willing recognition of duties and responsibilities, and see negative freedom as a serious threat to the fabric of society.

Socialist–understand freedom in positive terms to refer to self-fulfillment achieved through either creative labor or cooperative social interaction.  Social Democrats are close to modern liberals in treating freedom as the realization of individual potential.

Anarchist–regard freedom as an absolute value and believe that it is irreconcilable with any form of political authority.  Freedom is understood as the achievement of personal autonomy, not merely being left alone but rather being rationally self-willed and self-directed.

Fascist–rejects any form of liberty as nonsense.  “True” freedom means unquestioning submission to the will of the leader and absorption of the individual into a national community.

(Thanx to Andrew Heywood for the descriptions from his book “Political Ideologies”)

There are the simple definitions of the word according to the different political ideologies….if you take an objected look at most modern democracies one can see a little of ALL the ideologies in their make up….which is your definition of the word?

We see in today’s news that the Tea Party goers are screaming about Obama is making them less free, that he is stomping on their freedoms…….but as of yet NO one has said what those freedoms are…..the word “Freedom” is just another word politicians use to manipulate the throngs of adoring followers…they do not have to define what they mean, just convince the people that it is so….which is NOT a very difficult undertaking………….the perception of freedoms lost is by far more important that the definition in today’s world i minute sound bites…….