...with power over others are apt to abuse it for their benefit and at the expense of others. Liberal constitutionalism is expressed through support for various external and internal devices, such as codified constitutions, bills of rights, the separation of powers, federalism or devolution, and so on. Liberal support for consent is evident in support for electoral democracy in general and, more specifically, sympathy for referendums and proportional representation. 2. Distinguish between negative freedom and positive freedom, and explain the implications of each for the state. (Jun 02) Negative freedom is the absence of external constraints upon the individual, usually understood as non-interference. It is manifest in freedom of choice and consistent with privacy. Negative freedom implies rolling back the state, because the state as a compulsory and coercive body is by definition an offence against freedom. Positive freedom can be variously defined as self-mastery, linking freedom to democracy, or as personal growth and self-realisation, the achievement of individual potential....
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...Psychology 3 FREEDOM Freedom starts with a principle of self-control, also known as self-ownership. In a free society, each and every person has legal control (or "ownership") of their own body and mind. As such, the concept of freedom refers to a certain type of political empowerment. It refers specifically to equal empowerment. In other words, a free society is one with an equal distribution of legal rights and in which each and every person has as much legal rights as possible. Because freedom entails political equality, freedom can only logically entail as much legal rights as compatible with the same legal rights in others. In a free society, any one person cannot have so many legal rights that all other people could not logically have the same amount of legal rights. For example, freedom does not include the legal right to enslave someone else because freedom includes the legal right to not be enslaved. In another example, freedom does not include the legal right to non-defensively punch other people in the face against their will because freedom includes the legal right to not be offensively punched. Basically, a free person has the legal allowance to do whatever he or she wants insofar as he or she does not offensively harm or coerce other people against those other people's wills. Remember, the limitation is a logical requirement. Freedom obviously can not include the legal right to limit other people's freedom because that would be illogical. Freedom does include the...
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...Distinguish between negative freedom and positive freedom, and explain the significance to the state.{15} Negative liberty is the absence of obstacles, barriers or constraints. One has negative liberty to the extent that actions are available to one in this negative sense. Positive liberty is the possibility of acting — or the fact of acting — in such a way as to take control of one's life and realize one's fundamental purposes. While negative liberty is usually attributed to individual agents, positive liberty is sometimes attributed to collectivities, or to individuals considered primarily as members of given collectivities. The idea of distinguishing between a negative and a positive sense of the term ‘liberty’ goes back at least to Kant, and was examined and defended in depth by Isaiah Berlin in the 1950s and ’60s. Discussions about positive and negative liberty normally take place within the context of political and social philosophy. They are distinct from, though sometimes related to, philosophical discussions about free will. Work on the nature of positive liberty often overlaps, however, with work on the nature of autonomy. As Berlin showed, negative and positive liberty are not merely two distinct kinds of liberty; they can be seen as rival, incompatible interpretations of a single political ideal. Since few people claim to be against liberty, the way this term is interpreted and defined can have important political implications. Political liberalism tends...
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...responsibility within the government. Civil liberties are fundamental rights and freedoms that are guaranteed by the Constitution. There are many examples of civil liberties mentioned in the Bill of Rights such as: freedom of speech, freedom of press, the right to a fair trial, the right to own property, and freedom of religion. (U.S. Department of Defense, 2016) The protection of these rights as guaranteed by the Constitution allows United States citizens to freely act in accordance with each civil liberty. For instance, on April 25th, 2015 local officials in Baltimore MD responded to citizens exercising their civil liberties including freedom of speech and right to protest. The events influenced the local officials and political leaders to react both negatively and positively. Although the people participating in the protest were able to exercise their right to protest and speak freely, this freedom was short lived. Eventually several protestors, civilians, and even news reporters were shot with rubber bullets, pepper-sprayed, arrested, or otherwise silenced during the demonstration. These events are very similar to another instance during 2014 in Ferguson Missouri, where citizens were unable to exercise their rights fully. It is important to note that state officials did respond ethically at first to both protest in Baltimore MD, and Ferguson Missouri. It seems that the freedoms and rights outlined in the bill of rights are only protected as long as citizens...
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...implied the nature of humankind as a diverse species should be viewed as a strength. The idea of Freedom and protection of individual rights is also common of both strands. These beliefs stem from the Enlightenment theory that individuals are distinct and valuable, with John Locke defines our (God-given) natural rights as "Life, liberty and property". Immanuel Kant views humans as "ends in themselves", implying that and he makes two implications; that individuals are unique, and that they share the same equal status. The general liberal view is that people should have the freedom to do what they want; to live and work and say what they wish. This is not absolute and Mill says in is essay 'On Liberty' that the "only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of civilized community against his will, is to prevent harm to others." This view only accepted minimal restrictions to prevent this and thus did not accept self-harm preventing restrictions that are apparent today such as cycle helmet or seatbelt laws. Isiah Berlin explains that there are two "different concepts of Liberty": 'negative', which typically reflects an earlier time period and bases its principles purely on the absence of external restrictions and constraints, and 'positive', which focuses on the autonomous nature of the individual and follows Mill's argument that liberty is more than just freedom from restrictions, but also man's capacity to develop and achieve self-realization and gain...
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...Government Promote Positive Liberty? The idea of liberty, or freedom, varies between different theorists. One theorist, Isaiah Berlin, focused on the difference between two different ways of thinking about political liberty (Cherniss & Hardy, 2010). Berlin called these two different concepts negative and positive liberty. According to Berlin, negative freedom can be defined as ‘freedom from’, that is, freedom from constraint or interference of others. In contrast, positive freedom can be defined in two ways: ‘freedom to’, that is the ability to pursue and achieve willed goals; and also as autonomy or self-rule, as opposed to the dependence on others (Cherniss & Hardy, 2010). Keeping the idea of positive liberty at the forefront, this essay will focus on what positive liberty is and whether the government should promote it. As already mentioned, positive liberty can be defined as the ‘freedom to’ (Cherniss & Hardy, 2010). Smith (2008) adds that positive liberty is “the idea of self-government”. Under positive liberty, a person may decide how they wish to live, but they may unconsciously conform to the beliefs of society, religion or their parents (Smith, 2008). Positive liberty asks the question of “Who, or what, is the source of control or interference?” (Garner et al., 2012). Positive liberty therefore emphasizes the source of control, rather than the area of control associated with negative liberty (Garner, Ferdinand & Lawsom, 2012). Positive liberty is the...
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...Negative liberty is the absence of obstacles, barriers or constraints. One has negative liberty to the extent that actions are available to one in this negative sense. Positive liberty is the possibility of acting — or the fact of acting — in such a way as to take control of one's life and realize one's fundamental purposes. While negative liberty is usually attributed to individual agents, positive liberty is sometimes attributed to collectivities, or to individuals considered primarily as members of given collectivities. The idea of distinguishing between a negative and a positive sense of the term ‘liberty’ goes back at least to Kant, and was examined and defended in depth by Isaiah Berlin in the 1950s and ’60s. Discussions about positive and negative liberty normally take place within the context of political and social philosophy. They are distinct from, though sometimes related to, philosophical discussions about free will. Work on the nature of positive liberty often overlaps, however, with work on the nature of autonomy. As Berlin showed, negative and positive liberty are not merely two distinct kinds of liberty; they can be seen as rival, incompatible interpretations of a single political ideal. Since few people claim to be against liberty, the way this term is interpreted and defined can have important political implications. Political liberalism tends to presuppose a negative definition of liberty: liberals generally claim that if one favors individual liberty...
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...agreed over freedom? Liberals believe that human beings are first and foremost, individuals, endowed with reason. This implies that each individual should enjoy the maximum possible freedom consistent with a like freedom for all. Belief in the supreme importance of the individual leads naturally to a commitment to individual freedom. Isaiah Berlin distinguished between a `negative' theory of liberty and a `positive' one. Early liberals have believed in Negative Freedom. It is the absence of external restrictions and constraints upon the individual, usually understood as non-interference. It is often associated with freedom of choice and importance of privacy. However, classical liberals feared that `free' individuals may exploit others for their own interest and advantage hence why law and government are necessary. Negative freedom is therefore upheld primarily through checks and balances proposed by Montesquieu on government power through codified constitutions and bills of rights. Examples of negative freedom include civil liberties, such as freedom of conscience, freedom of speech, freedom of movement and freedom of religious worship. Modern liberals, on the other hand, believed that the unrestrained freedom promoted by classical liberalism has brought about new forms of poverty and injustice. T.H. Green challenged the classical liberal notion of liberty. Negative freedom merely removes external constraints on the individual, giving the individual freedom of choice....
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...Why is the concept of freedom so contested in political theory? (Word maximum: 1,500) Freedom is an important concept in Western politics, strongly entwined as it is with ideas of liberalism. Yet, as suggested by the question, the concept is one which is hotly debated. Indeed, political agents attempt to control the political agenda through promotion of their particular definition. This essay will look at the ways freedom has been defined by different theorists over the years. It will also look at how freedom is linked with and explained through different theo-ries and ideologies. It will then go on to look at how these different theories and ideologies may shape the conceptions of freedom we find in our daily lives. Different political theorists, writing in different times, often of political turmoil, have considered freedom in many different ways. Three influential writers who took a normative approach were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. An important part of their arguments turned on their notions of a ‘state of nature’ – where natural law applied in absence of any organised political state. Hobbes (1651, cited in Brown, 2005), writing shortly after the English Civil War, argued that in a ‘state of nature’ individuals would be fearful for their own interests, resulting inevitably in war of all against all. To obviate this, Hobbes suggested that individuals should voluntarily accept restrictions – and invest their will in an absolute power...
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...liberalist ideas. This essay will discuss the extent to which modern liberalism departs from classical liberalisms by analysing approaches to the size of the state, democracy and the concept of freedom and aims to justify the argument that modern liberalism departs considerably from classical liberalism. Modern liberalism departs from the ideas of classical liberalism with regards to the concept of freedom, although the extent of difference is limited. Isiah Berlin first discussed the concept of freedom in an essay published in 1958. Berlin proposed two concepts of liberty; positive, which is supported by modern liberalists, and negative, which is supported by classical liberals. The classical conception of negative liberty suggests that society is best when there is an absence of external restrictions or constraints on the individual. Therefore, classical liberals strongly supported full individual freedom. John Stuart Mill, a political philosopher known as the ‘father of classical liberalism’ argued that the government is controlling the actions of individuals for no reason. He therefore developed a theory of ‘true freedom’ based on the complete absence of constraint and therefore he supports Berlin’s concept of negative liberty. Further classical liberals who argued for the theory of negative liberty include John Locke and Jeremy Bentham....
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...COMPONENTS OF ECONOMIC FREEDOM AND GROWTH: An Empirical Study Eliezer B. Ayal and Georgios Karras University of Illinois at Chicago * Published in the Journal of Developing Areas, Vol.32, No.3, Spring 1998, 327-338. Publisher: Western Illinois University Abstract Out of thirteen recently isolated components of economic freedom our study identifies six which are shown to be statistically significantly related to multifactor productivity and capital accumulation. Policy implications, which could not be derived before these results, are discussed, and directions for future research are proposed. JEL code: P00, O4. Keywords: Economic Freedom, Growth, Investment. * Professor and Associate Professor, Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL 60607. Corresponding author's e-mail: gkarras@uic.edu. The present study is an attempt to quantify relationships between economic development and disaggregated factors which constitute elements of "economic freedom" in current terminology. The three main objectives of this paper are to: (1) verify that the currently spreading belief that economic freedom helps (some would even say it is essential for) economic growth has empirical foundations; (2) test which of the elements of economic freedom for which there are sufficient analyzable data, demonstrate a statistically significant relationship to economic growth; and (3) identify desirable directions for further research and policy implications...
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...expansion of the state as necessary based on the socio-economic circumstances of society. In this sense, modern liberalism can be viewed as a development on classical liberal thinking; it is only in the new ideas that modern liberalism brought about upon which they are fundamentally different. Modern liberalism can be viewed as taking a strong departure from classical liberalism based on their ideas of freedom. Firstly, classical liberals have believed in the idea of negative freedom, meaning non-interference or freedom from external interference of any sort; individuals should be left alone to make their own decisions. The government or state, external to the individual, should act as a ‘night watchman’, as summarized by the classical liberal John Locke, meaning its primary role should merely be to oversee society to keep law and order in place and the state in check. An extension of this classical view is the idea of a minimal state, in that its governing role of policy implementation should be restrained as much as possible, so as to not interfere with individual freedom. As former US President Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘That government is best which governs least’. Modern liberals deviating from classical liberal thought became evident when T.H. Green challenged the classical...
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...TWO TYPES OF PROTESTS MY OPINION / BELIEF I strongly believe yes and no peaceful resistance to law is a positive and negative impact to a free society. Peaceful protests are the key to having your freedom of speech against federal law . History has proven what a peaceful protests can do and what a riot can cause. I strongly believe that whatever you stand for whether violent and nonviolent protesting; is a freedom you are given, although you need to know what you are actually standing for and not just another bandwagon effect. Peaceful protests can have a positive impact or a negative impact. I strongly believe peaceful resistance to law is a positive and negative impact to a free society. There is a difference between two types of...
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...Similarities between classical and modern liberalism are greater than the differences. Discuss. (45 marks) Typically, liberalism is categorised into two separate components; classical liberalism, which was fashioned during the 19th century as a result of the industrial revolution, and the more recent Modern Liberalism which emerged as industrialisation continued within the UK. Although both divisions of Liberalism unavoidably overlap in attitudes and approaches regarding the theory behind the ideology, I believe, fundamentally, that clear tensions between these aspects of Liberalism are more evident when analysing this ideology. Some will say that both classical and modern liberalists possess a number of parallel approaches towards this political theory and its key concepts. Firstly, both strands of Liberalism believe in the necessity of some kind of a state, since life without a state, as Thomas Hobbes stated, would be ‘solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short’. Both views consider the existence of a state to be essential in order to protect individual rights. Since liberals generally considered humanity to be self-interested and egoistical, a state was needed to ensure that individuals did not exploit other individuals’ rights, through acts of stealing, harming, or even slavery, and was therefore the only thing that was capable of restraining all individuals and groups within society. Hobbes and Locke particularly stressed the importance of creating a ‘social contract’...
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...non-self-sufficient, for it, life, that is, being for an other, is the essence. The former is the master, the latter is the servant” (Hegel 189). Hegel suggests in the dialectic that there is coherence between subject and object, concrete and abstract, part and whole, and for the purpose of dialectic, master and slave. Hegel believes that “master” is a “consciousness.” The consciousness defines itself in mutual relations to what is referred to as slave’s consciousness. This occurs in a process of mutual interdependence and mediation. Hegel uses his Phenomenology of Spirit to provide his understanding and exposition of master slave dialectic as an account of both the need of recognition and emergence of self-consciousness. Hegel’s line of thought and work plays a crucial role in Fanon’s exposition of the colonization by the Western. Fanon exposition focuses more on violence and race. Violence adds urgency, complicates and is driven by the need for recognition. An optimistic and promising moment lurks in Fanon’s Black Skin White Masks. The promising moment in Fanon’s work is articulated in a humanity characterization which also serves as an entry point into mutual recognition. The question to ask; is there any hope in reconciliation and coming to terms with the colonial situation between the white master and the black slave? How can we address the problem of mutual recognition in light of racism and violence? Frantz Fanon’s exposition is based on a context that analyzed being...
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