Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with

liberty Liberty is the ability to do as one pleases, or a right or immunity enjoyed by prescription or by grant (i.e. privilege). It is a synonym for the word freedom. In modern politics, liberty is understood as the state of being free within society fr ...

and

autonomy In developmental psychology and moral, political, and bioethical philosophy, autonomy, from , ''autonomos'', from αὐτο- ''auto-'' "self" and νόμος ''nomos'', "law", hence when combined understood to mean "one who gives oneself one's ...

in the sense of "giving oneself their own laws", and with having

rights Rights are legal, social, or ethical principles of freedom or entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal system, social convention, or ethical the ...

and the

civil liberties Civil liberties are guarantees and freedoms that governments commit not to abridge, either by constitution, legislation, or judicial interpretation, without due process. Though the scope of the term differs between countries, civil liberties may ...

with which to exercise them without undue interference by the state. Frequently discussed kinds of political freedom include

freedom of assembly Freedom of peaceful assembly, sometimes used interchangeably with the freedom of association, is the individual right or ability of people to come together and collectively express, promote, pursue, and defend their collective or shared ide ...

freedom of association Freedom of association encompasses both an individual's right to join or leave groups voluntarily, the right of the group to take collective action to pursue the interests of its members, and the right of an association to accept or decline membe ...

freedom of choice Freedom of choice describes an individual's opportunity and autonomy to perform an action selected from at least two available options, unconstrained by external parties. In politics In the abortion debate, for example, the term "freedom of ch ...

, and

freedom of speech Freedom of speech is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or a community to articulate their opinions and ideas without fear of retaliation, censorship, or legal sanction. The right to freedom of expression has been recogni ...

. In one definition, something is "free" if it can change easily and is not constrained in its present state. In

philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...

and

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

, freedom is sometimes associated with

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to actio ...

, without undue or unjust constraints on that will, such as

enslavement Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. It is an idea closely tied with the concept of

negative liberty Negative liberty is freedom from interference by other people. Negative liberty is primarily concerned with freedom from external restraint and contrasts with positive liberty (the possession of the power and resources to fulfill one's own pote ...

. Charles Taylor resolves one of the issues that separate "positive" and "negative" theories of freedom, as these were initially distinguished in Isaiah Berlin's seminal essay, "Two concepts of liberty". Taylor sees it as undeniable that there are two such families of conceptions of political freedom. Negative liberty is a concept that is often used in political philosophy. It is the idea that freedom means an ability to do what one wants, without external obstacles. This concept has been called too simplistic for discounting the importance of individual self-realization. Positive liberty is the ability to fulfill one's purposes.

Types

In political discourse,

political freedom Political freedom (also known as political autonomy or political agency) is a central concept in history and political thought and one of the most important features of democratic societies.Hannah Arendt, "What is Freedom?", ''Between Past and F ...

is often associated with

and

in the sense of "giving oneself their own laws", and with having

and the

with which to exercise them without undue interference by the state. Frequently discussed kinds of political freedom include

, and

. In some occasions, particularly when discussion is limited to political freedoms, the terms "freedom" and "liberty" tend to be used interchangeably.Anna Wierzbicka, ''Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words'' (1997), p. 130-31: "Unfortunately... the English words freedom and

are used interchangeably. This is confusing because these two do not mean the same, and in fact what saiahBerlin 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". Elsewhere, subtle distinctions between freedom and liberty are noted.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".

John Stuart Mill John Stuart Mill (20 May 1806 – 7 May 1873) was an English philosopher, political economist, Member of Parliament (MP) and civil servant. One of the most influential thinkers in the history of classical liberalism, he contributed widely to ...

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. Wendy Hui Kyong Chun explains the differences in terms of their relation to institutions: Another distinction that some political theorists have deemed important is that people may aspire to have freedom ''from'' limiting forces (such as

freedom from fear Freedom from fear is listed as a fundamental human right according to The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On January 6, 1941, United States President Franklin D. Roosevelt called it one of the "Four Freedoms" at his State of the Union, whi ...

freedom from want The right to an adequate standard of living is a fundamental human rights, human right. It is part of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was accepted by the United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations on De ...

, and

freedom from discrimination The right to freedom from discrimination is internationally recognised as a human right and enshrines the principle of egalitarianism. The right to freedom from discrimination is recognised in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and enshrined ...

), but descriptions of freedom and liberty generally do not invoke having liberty ''from'' anything. To the contrary, the concept of

refers to the liberty one person may have to restrict the rights of others. Other important fields in which freedom is an issue include

economic freedom Economic freedom, or economic liberty, is the ability of people of a society to take economic actions. This is a term used in economic and policy debates as well as in the philosophy of economics. One approach to economic freedom comes from the l ...

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

intellectual freedom Intellectual freedom encompasses the freedom to hold, receive and disseminate ideas without restriction. Viewed as an integral component of a democratic society, intellectual freedom protects an individual's right to access, explore, consider, and ...

scientific freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teach ...

and

References

External links

"Freedom"
BBC Radio 4 discussion with John Keane, Bernard Williams & Annabel Brett (''In Our Time'', 4 July 2002) {{Wikiquote, Freedom Social concepts Rights

Types

See also

References

External links