Berlin (1909-1997)3
Central question in politics:
obedience
and
coercion
Positive freedom 4
What, or who, is the source of control or
interference that can determine someone to
do, or be, this rather than that?
Freedom as self-mastery
ONE true purpose: rational self-direction
↓
Universal pattern
↓
Conflict = rational vs. irrational
↓
Obedience to rational law = freedom(?)
Despotism = freedom?
Reason (high-nature)
vs.
Passion (low-nature)
Man of Reason = director of life
Man of Passion = slave to nature
Positive freedom 11
Negative freedom 15
What is the area within which the subject – a
person or group of persons – is or should be
left to do or be what he is able to do or be,
without interference by other persons?
Freedom from interference
Leviathan ch. 21:
LIBERTY, OR FREEDOME,
signifieth (properly) the
absence of Opposition;
(by Opposition, I mean
externall Impediments of
motion;)
16Negative freedom
Critical remarks:
•Highly modern doctrine
•Negative liberty not prerequisite for individual
flourishing
•Liberty not incompatible with autocracy
Negative freedom
-Economic libertarian
-adviser to Ronald Reagan
The ‘welfare trap’
What are his arguments
against interference by the
state?
22Friedman (1912-2006)