Compare and Contrast Positive and Negative Conceptions of Liberty.

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Compare and Contrast Positive and Negative Conceptions of Liberty

Although it is one of the most used words in political vocabulary, there is no fully satisfying definition of liberty. This has led to philosophers and politicians defining freedom as that of which they approve. Rousseau proclaimed the ‘the mere impulse of appetite is slavery, whilst obedience to the law which we prescribe ourselves is liberty’, whereas Locke describes it simply as ‘the power a man has to do or forbear any particular action’. Liberty is also often interchangeable with the word ‘freedom’ – although efforts have been made to differentiate between the two ideals, no convincing separation has been made.

Distinguishing between positive and negative liberty can be dated back to at least Kant, but Isaiah Berlin was first to examine the idea in depth. The most popular definition of liberty is that of Isaiah Berlin, whose essay ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’ (1969) gave rise to the ideas of ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ liberty.

Put simply, negative liberty is freedom ‘from’ whilst positive liberty is freedom ‘to’. Negative liberty is an absence of external restrictions, barriers or obstacles. It can be described as an ‘area’ of someone’s business free from interference from others – including the state. You are essentially free is there is no one stopping you from acting in whichever way you want. Liberty is the absence of something. Berlin described negative liberty as the answer to the question ‘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?’ .

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In contrast, positive liberty is self mastery or self – realisation; the ability to control ones own life and develop personal autonomy. This concept sees liberty as the presence of control on a person – freedom means self determination and control of ones own destiny and interests. Berlin used the idea of positive liberty to answer the question ‘What, or who, is the source of control or interference that can determine someone to do, or be, this rather than that?’ .

Not intended to describe two distinct kind of liberty, the ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ concepts are interpretations of a ...

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