A Distinct Concepts Of Liberty - 1472 Words

Berlin argued that there were two very distinct concepts of liberty competing in the history of political philosophy. Negative liberty describes the freedom not to be interfered with. It is the common and common sense understanding of freedom. Liberal societies (small-l) try to arrange government to give individuals the largest sphere of liberty concerning important human values – speech, worship, property and so forth -- compatible with the maximum liberty of others. Positive liberty is more complicated and not so common-sensical. It is the freedom to do something. It describes the capacity to exercise liberty, not just the absence of interference. What good is the freedom to own property, for example, if you have no money? Liberty without capacity, in the positive conception, is meaningless. Negative liberty is the first political value among many in the political philosophies in the English liberal tradition and in the liberal democracies they have shaped. In theocratic societies and in the European political philosophies of the counter-Enlightenment, negative liberty is trivial; their ultimate political values vary by ideology – from salvation to sharia to equality – and liberty means having the conditions and capacity for the right values to flourish. Positive liberty always entails a concept of the good life; negative liberty assumes there are many good lives. What gave Berlin’s ideas such sway was not the brilliance and novelty of the distinction betweenShow MoreRelatedAristotle, Joseph Schumpeter, Milton Friedman, And John Rawls1230 Words   |  5 PagesThe concept of equality is multi-faceted and widely debated among scholars. While there is no singular definition for equality, equality deals with the distribution of some â€Å"thing† in a specific domain. For this paper, equality will be narrowed down to the domains of economic and political. 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Rousseau states, that natural liberty is the freedom to pursue whatever that person wants, while civil liberty is the freedom to pursueRead MoreRousseau, Mill, And Constant Articulated By Unpacking Essay1656 Words   |  7 Pagesout the distinct visions of liberty that Rousseau, Mill, and Constant articulated by unpacking the central premises of each argument, pitting them against each other through comparing and contrasting. Although, Rousseau distinguishes two specific types of liberty, natural liberty and civil liberty. Natural liberty, Rousseau states, is the freedom to pursue one s own desires whereas civil liberty is the freedom to pursue the general will. The general will is a key concept in RousseauRead MoreModern Political Theory : Hobbes And Locke s Difference Essay1544 Words   |  7 Pagesthe modern setting using various concepts and thoughts as presented by the two philosophers. 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