Freedom

{{other uses|Freedom (disambiguation)}}
{{short description|Ability to act or change without constraint}}
[[File:OURS TO FIGHT FOR. 4 FREEDOMS ON ONE SHEET - NARA - 513635.jpg|thumb|right|''[[Four Freedoms (Norman Rockwell)|Four Freedoms]]'', a series of 1943 paintings by [[Norman Rockwell]] honoring [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]]'s [[Four Freedoms]], meant to describe the freedoms for which allied nations fought in World War II.]]
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'''Freedom''' is the power or right to speak, act and change as one wants without hindrance or restraint. Freedom is often associated with [[liberty]] and [[autonomy]] in the sense of "giving oneself one's own laws".<ref>{{Cite journal |date=2010-01-01 |editor-last=Stevenson |editor-first=Angus |editor2-last=Lindberg |editor2-first=Christine A. |title=New Oxford American Dictionary |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001 |website=Oxford Reference |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-539288-3 |access-date=2023-06-02 |archive-date=2020-03-12 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200312102208/https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195392883.001.0001/acref-9780195392883 |url-status=live }}{{Clarify|date=October 2023}}</ref>

In one definition, something is "free" if it can change and is not constrained in its present state. Physicists and chemists use the word in this sense.<ref name="auto">
{{oed | free}}
</ref>

[[Philosophy]] and [[religion]] sometimes associate freedom with [[free will]], as distinct from [[predestination]].<ref>Baumeister, Roy F.; Monroe, Andrew E. (2014). "Recent Research on Free Will". ''Advances in Experimental Social Psychology''. Vol. 50. pp. 1–52. {{doi|10.1016/B978-0-12-800284-1.00001-1}}. {{ISBN|978-0128002841}}.</ref>

In modern [[Liberalism|liberal]] nations, freedom is considered a right, especially freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press.

Many contemporary philosophers like  [[Charles Taylor (philosopher)|Charles Taylor]] and [[Isaiah Berlin]] make a distinction between "positive freedom" and "negative freedom".

==Types==
{{Main|Academic freedom|Artistic freedom|Intellectual freedom|Scientific freedom|Economic freedom|Freedom of religion|Political freedom|Civil liberties|Liberty}}

In political discourse, [[political freedom]] is often associated with [[liberty]] and [[autonomy]], and a distinction is made between countries that are free and [[dictatorships]]. In the area of [[civil rights]], a strong distinction is made between freedom and [[slavery]] and there is conflict between people who think all races, religions, genders, and social classes should be equally free and people who think freedom is the exclusive right of certain groups. Frequently discussed are [[freedom of assembly]], [[freedom of association]], [[freedom of choice]], and [[freedom of speech]].

Sometimes the terms "freedom" and "liberty" tend to be used interchangeably.<ref>''See'' Bertrand Badie, Dirk Berg-Schlosser, Leonardo Morlino, ''International Encyclopedia of Political Science'' (2011), p. 1447: "Throughout this entry, incidentally, the terms freedom and liberty are used interchangeably".</ref><ref name="Wierzbicka">Anna Wierzbicka, ''Understanding Cultures Through Their Key Words'' (1997), pp. 130–131: "Unfortunately... the English words freedom and [[liberty]] are used interchangeably. This is confusing because these two do not mean the same, and in fact what [Isaiah] Berlin calls "the notion of 'negative' freedom" has become largely incorporated in the word ''freedom'', whereas the word ''liberty'' in its earlier meaning was much closer to the Latin libertas and in its current meaning reflects a different concept, which is a product of the Anglo-Saxon culture".</ref> Sometimes subtle distinctions are made between "freedom" and "liberty"<ref>Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, ''Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics'' (2008), p. 9: "Although used interchangeably, freedom and liberty have significantly different etymologies and histories. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the Old English ''frei'' (derived from Sanskrit) meant dear and described all those close or related to the head of the family (hence friends). Conversely in Latin, ''libertas'' denoted the legal state of freedom versus enslavement and was later extended to children (''liberi''), meaning literally the free members of the household. Those who are one's friends are free; those who are not are slaves".</ref> [[John Stuart Mill]], for example, differentiated liberty from freedom in that freedom is primarily, if not exclusively, the ability to do as one wills and what one has the power to do, whereas liberty concerns the absence of arbitrary restraints and takes into account the rights of all involved. As such, the exercise of liberty is subject to capability and limited by the rights of others.<ref>Mill, John Stuart. [1859] 1869. ''[[On Liberty]]'' (4th ed.). London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer. pp. 21–22 Archived 17 November 2022 at the Wayback Machine.</ref>

[[Isaiah Berlin]] made a distinction between "positive" freedom and "negative" freedom in his seminal 1958 lecture  [[Two Concepts of Liberty|"Two concepts of liberty"]]. [[Charles Taylor (philosopher)|Charles Taylor]] elaborates on this idea, claiming that it is undeniable that there are two such kinds of freedom. Negative liberty means an ability to do what one wants, without external obstacles; [[positive liberty]] is the ability to fulfill one's purposes.<ref>{{cite book
 |last1             = Taylor
 |first1            = Charles
 |author-link1      = Charles Taylor (philosopher)
 |date              = 1985
 |chapter           = What's Wrong With Negative Liberty
 |title             = Philosophical Papers: Volume 2, Philosophy and the Human Sciences
 |pages             = 211–229
 |url               = https://books.google.com/books?id=O5-azgEACAAJ
 |publication-place = Cambridge
 |publisher         = Cambridge University Press
 |isbn              = 978-0521317498
 |access-date       = 28 February 2023
 |archive-date      = 28 February 2023
 |archive-url       = https://web.archive.org/web/20230228035534/https://books.google.com/books?id=O5-azgEACAAJ
 |url-status        = live
}}</ref><ref>Berlin, Isaiah. ''Four Essays on Liberty''. 1969.</ref>

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun explains these differences in terms of their relation to institutions:

{{quote|"Liberty is linked to human subjectivity; freedom is not. The Declaration of Independence, for example, describes men as having liberty and the nation as being free. Free will—''the quality of being free from the control of fate or necessity''—may first have been attributed to human will, but [[Newtonian physics]] attributes freedom—[[degrees of freedom]], [[free bodies]]—to objects."<ref name="Chun">Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, ''Control and Freedom: Power and Paranoia in the Age of Fiber Optics'' (2008), p. 9.</ref>}}

{{quote|"Freedom differs from liberty as control differs from discipline. Liberty, like discipline, is linked to institutions and political parties, whether liberal or libertarian; freedom is not. Although freedom can work for or against institutions, it is not bound to them—it travels through unofficial networks. To have liberty is to be liberated from something; to be free is to be self-determining, autonomous. Freedom can or cannot exist within a state of liberty: one can be liberated yet ''unfree,'' or ''free'' yet enslaved (Orlando Patterson has argued in ''Freedom: Freedom in the Making of Western Culture'' that freedom arose from the yearnings of slaves)."<ref name="Chun"/>}}

Another distinction that some political theorists have deemed important is that people may aspire to have freedom ''from'' limiting forces (such as [[freedom from fear]], [[freedom from want]], and [[freedom from discrimination]]), but descriptions of freedom and liberty generally do not invoke having liberty ''from'' anything.<ref name="Wierzbicka"/> This is the concept of [[negative liberty]].<ref name="Wierzbicka"/>

Other important fields in which freedom is an issue include [[economic freedom]], [[academic freedom]], [[intellectual freedom]], [[scientific freedom]], and [[political freedom]].

In its origin, the  [[English language|English]] word "freedom" relates etymologically to the word "friend".<ref name="auto"/>

==See also==
* [[Internet freedom]]
* [[Freedom Riders]] – civil-rights activists
* [[Freethought]]
* [[Harm principle]]
* [[Personal freedom]]
* [[Refusal of work]]
* ''[[Statue of Freedom]]'', an 1863 sculpture by [[Thomas Crawford (sculptor)|Thomas Crawford]] atop the dome of the US Capitol
* [[Statue of Liberty]] (''Liberty Enlightening the World''), 1886 statue by [[Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi]] in New York City
* '' [[Goddess of Liberty (Texas State Capitol)|Goddess of Liberty]]'', an 1888 statue by [[Elijah E. Myers]] atop the [[Texas State Capitol]] dome, in [[Austin, Texas]]
* ''[[Miss Freedom]]'', 1889 statue on the dome of the Georgia State Capitol (US)
*  [[Freedom (Tibor)|''Freedom'']], 1985 statue by [[Alfred Tibor]] in Columbus, Ohio
* [[Freedom songs]]
* ''[[Freedom & Civilization]]'', 1944 book by Bronislaw Malinowski about freedom from anthropological perspective

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wiktionary|freedom}}
{{Wikiquote|Freedom}}
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00548hh "Freedom"], BBC Radio 4 discussion with John Keane, Bernard Williams & Annabel Brett (''In Our Time'', 4 July 2002)

{{Political philosophy}}

[[Category:Social concepts]]
[[Category:Rights]]