Philosophy: Sir Isaiah Berlin and Two Concepts of Liberty
In his essay 'Two Concepts of Liberty?E(1958), Sir Isaiah Berlin made considerable intellectual ground on the philosophical definition of Freedom ¯ notably, it was here that the archaic distinctions between 'Positive?Eand 'Negative?Efreedom were reexamined and given a fresh, clear outlook. The ideas offered in his essay on the nature of these two 'freedoms?Eprovided philosophers with such intellectual ammunition that they continue to be debated over, even to this present day.In trying to demarcate the separate senses of the two types of liberty, Berlin correctly noted that negative liberty is 'freedom from?E or the absence of obstacles to the individual's free choice; positive liberty is 'freedom to?E or the power of which the individual may act according to this free choice. From here, it may seem that the differences between positive and negative freedoms are just semantic; they basically are different sides of the same coin. This is true, insofar that they are both still liberty in a general sense. Liberty, in a very general, broad definition, is the individual's capacity for free choice; it is his ability to exercise free will. This idea of basic liberty is central to both 'Positive?Eand 'Negative?Esenses of the concept; t
In further elaboration of what the 'rational self?Ein the 'positive?Esense of liberty entails, Berlin, extends this rational self, to 'a tribe, a race, a Church, a State, the great society of the living and the dead and the yet unborn?E In this inclusion Berlin expands the rational self as not only the faculty of reason possessed by the specific individual, but whole social systems of which the individual is part of. Thus an entity like the State may intervene in situations where the 'instinctual?Eself has taken control, and coerce the individual to making 'rational?Echoices that he otherwise (without coercion) would not. The premise of this intervention is that such coercion would be in his general interest, for his own good. Berlin takes this idea a step further in saying that the individual is always seeking the 'rational?Echoice; even when he is seeking to fulfill an 'instinctual?Eend, he is just slave to his 'lower?Enature and thus blind to the fact that he actually seeks 'rational?Echoices. hey begin with this basic premise of what freedom entails, but then become separate as they develop as concepts in their own right. The source of this divide is in what both senses of liberty constitutes as 'free choice?Eand 'free will?E In carefully analyzing the two separate concepts, one may realise that negative liberty must exist first before positive liberty; Berlin supports this claim that negative liberty, being the more basic, fundamental sense of freedom, must be necessarily present before positive liberty can exist. This is true, as one must be free to choose, before considering what is chosen. In conclusion, what seemed like cosmetic differences of the same argument became distinct and separate, upon analysis of the underlying implications of these same differences. It is important thus to unders
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Approximate Word count = 1224
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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