The Philosophy Book

280

THE FUNDAMENTAL

SENSE OF FREEDOM

IS FREEDOM

FROM CHAINS

ISAIAH BERLIN (1909–1997)

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Ethics

APPROACH

Analytic philosophy

BEFORE

1651 In the Leviathan,

Thomas Hobbes considers

the relationship between

freedom and state power.

1844 Søren Kierkegaard

argues that our freedom to

make moral decisions is a

chief cause of unhappiness.

1859 In his book On Liberty,

John Stuart Mill distinguishes

between freedom from coercion

and freedom to act.

1941 Psychoanalyst Erich

Fromm explores positive and

negative liberty in his book

The Fear of Freedom.

AFTER

Present day The development

of new surveillance technology

raises fresh questions about

the nature of freedom.

W

hat does it mean to be

free? This is the question

explored by the British

philosopher Isaiah Berlin in his

famous essay Two Concepts of

Liberty, written in 1958. Here he

makes a distinction between what

he calls “positive” and “negative”

freedom. Although he is not the first

to draw this distinction, he does so

with great originality, and uses it to

expose apparent inconsistencies in

our everyday notion of freedom.

For Berlin, “negative” freedom

is what he calls our “fundamental

sense” of freedom. This kind of

Freedom is both

positive and negative.

When our own positive

freedom leads to a decrease

in others’ negative freedom,

it becomes oppression.

But our individual goals

sometimes conflict or lead

to the domination of others.

Negative: we are free from

external obstacles and

domination, or “chains”.

Positive: we are free to

control our own destiny and

choose our own goals.

The fundamental sense

of freedom is freedom

from chains.

IN CONTEXT

BRANCH

Ethics

APPROACH

Analytic philosophy

BEFORE

1651 In his book Leviathan,

Thomas Hobbes considers

the relationship between

freedom and state power.

1844 Søren Kierkegaard

argues that our freedom to

make moral decisions is a

chief cause of unhappiness.

1859 In his book On Liberty,

John Stuart Mill distinguishes

between freedom from coercion

and freedom to act.

1941 Psychoanalyst Erich

Fromm explores positive and

negative liberty in his book

The Fear of Freedom.

AFTER

Present day The development

of new surveillance technology

raises fresh questions about

the nature of freedom.