What is freedom in Philosophy? Read the Philosophers’ Definitions
Freedom: As Defined by Various Philosophers
There may be those who deny the existence of free will in the ordinary common sense usage, but everyone seems to be in basic agreement that there exists an idea of freedom. Various philosophers define and explain this freedom in different but interrelated ways:
a. Epicurus
Epicurus believes that the universe is composed of very tiny, invisible particles known as atoms. The atoms’ movement and interaction in empty space are ultimately responsible for all incidences in the natural world. Epicurus introduces the theory of “atomic swerve,” which states that atoms may deviate from their expected course, thus enabling humans to have free will in an otherwise deterministic universe.
b. Plato
Freedom for Plato is a form of self-mastery, realized by cultivating the virtues of wisdom, courage, and temperance, bringing about a person’s liberation from the domination of wicked desires and the possession of a more exact understanding and purposeful quest for the “Good” (the highest of the “Forms” or essences of things).
c. Augustine of Hippo
Augustine’s conception of freedom is necessarily tied with his moral theory and theology. He believes that by one’s own strength alone, without God’s gracious intervention, it is impossible for one to become moral and righteous. Without taking away one’s freedom, God’s grace fortifies man’s will to do good and pulls it to its real purpose by offering delight as motivation.
For Augustine, only God’s grace can free our will from the domination of sin, thereby even perfecting human liberty. Genuine liberty is free choice used to good purpose, whereas bogus liberty is its bad utilization. Moved by God’s liberating grace, free will exercises authentic liberty in fulfilling God’s laws.
d. Thomas Aquinas
For Aquinas, freedom is “a means to human excellence, to human happiness to the fulfillment of human destiny;” “the capacity to choose wisely and to act well as a matter of habit or … as an outgrowth of virtue;” “the means by which exercising both our reason and our will, we act on the natural longing for truth, for goodness and for happiness that is built in us human beings;” and “the great organizing principle of moral life” (as quoted in “Freedom for Excellence: St. Thomas Aquinas,” n.d.).
e. Thomas Hobbes
According to Hobbes, freedom denotes the absence of opposition or external impediments to motion. As such, freedom is applicable not only to people who are rational agents but also to irrational and inanimate creatures. For instance, we may say that water is not free to flow beyond the receptacle containing it.
f. John Locke
In his Two Treatises on Government, Locke explained that freedom is “constrained by laws in both the state of nature and political society. Freedom of nature is to be under no other restraint but the law of nature. Freedom of people under government is to be under no restraint apart from standing rules to live by that are common to everyone in the society and made by the lawmaking power established in it” (as quoted in “Liberty,” n.d.).
Locke thus believes that we have a right or liberty to (a) follow our own will in everything that the law has not proscribed and (b) not be subject to the arbitrary wills of others.
g. Jean-Jacques Rousseau
In the state of nature, Rousseau believes that we have physical freedom, that is, our actions are not restrained in any way—although we are like animals, slaves to our own urges and instincts. Through a social contract, Rousseau hopes to obtain the needed civil freedom, a freedom which is strengthened by an agreement not to injure one another, a restriction which leads humans to be rational and moral.
Civil freedom is thus seen as superior to physical freedom, since with civil freedom, humans are not even slaves to their impulses. Rousseau’s social contract is hoped to bind people into a society that exists for mutual protection. By entering into this social contract, we are said to sacrifice our physical freedom of being able to do whatever we like, but we attain the civil freedom of being able to think and act ethically and reasonably.
h. Rene Descartes
Descartes believes that freedom of will consists simply in man’s ability to do or not do something. Strictly, he identifies freedom with actions that are not pre-determined even by the existence of divine foreknowledge. Descartes claims that freedom comes in degrees: some actions and choices are freer than others and that indifference is the lowest grade of freedom. Moreover, he teaches that freedom usually consists in changing a person’s own desires rather than the order of the world. (Read: Methodic Doubt: The Cartesian Method of Philosophy)
i. Immanuel Kant
For Kant, freedom refers to the ability to control one’s actions on the basis of reason, never of desire. Freedom therefore is “autonomy,” from a Greek word that literally translates to “self-legislator.” For Kant therefore, to be free is not to live by one’s animalistic nature imposed on him from birth, but to live by the laws one imposes on himself.
j. John Stuart Mill
Freedom for Mill is liberty of tastes and pursuits, doing as one likes without obstruction from her fellow creatures, as long as she does not harm them. He explained freedom as liberty of conscience, thought, feeling, and opinion, and it is never justifiable for anyone to meddle with another person’s freedom to safeguard her happiness or well-being because that is deciding what that person’s happiness is … continue reading
Also Check Out: From Socrates to Mill: An Analysis of Prominent Ethical Theories, also by author Jensen DG. Mañebog
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Read also: Reasoning and Debate: A Handbook and a Textbook by Jensen DG. Mañebog
Philosophy of Man Articles:
Distinguish Opinion from Truth
Do a philosophical reflection on a concrete situation from a holistic perspective
Realize the Value of Doing Philosophy in Obtaining a Broad Perspective on Life
Distinguish a Holistic Perspective from a Partial Point of View (Holism vs Partial Perspective)
The Blind Men and the Elephant: Attaining a Holistic Perspective
Methodic Doubt: The Cartesian Method of Philosophy
Mga Libreng Lektura para sa Pambungad sa Pilosopiya ng Tao:
Nakikilala ang pagkakaiba ng katotohanan sa opinyon
Karanasan na nagpapakita ng pagkakaiba ng katotohanan sa opinyon lamang
Ang Pagkakaiba ng Pangkabuuang Pananaw at Pananaw ng mga Bahagi Lamang
Ang Halaga ng Pamimilosopiya sa Pagkakaroon ng Malawakang pananaw
Pagmumuni-muni sa Suliranin sa Pilosopikong Paraan at Pamimilosopiya sa Buhay
Also read: From Socrates to Mill: An Analysis of Prominent Ethical Theories by Jensen DG. Mañebog
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