Define the difference between negative and positive freedom, outline the implications of the state in each.
Tuesday, 15 October 2002 Jad Salfiti
A1 Politics
Define the difference between negative and positive freedom, outline the implications of the state in each
In his "Two Concepts of Liberty", Isaiah Berlin distinguished between two theories of liberty; Negative and Positive freedom.
The negative view advocates freedom with regard to independence of an individual from interference by other persons, institutions or governments, and fundamentally the absence of eternal restrictions or constraints upon the individual. Berlin argued that "I [he] am normally said to be free to the degree to which no man or body of men interferes with my activity. Political liberty in this sense is simply the area within which a man can act unobstructed by others", it thus follows that mere incapacity to attain a goal is not lack of political freedom. If freedom refers in some way, to the absence of eternal constraints upon the individual, a commitment to liberty implies that definite limits be placed upon both law and Government. Negative Freedom, therefore implies that Government should similarly be restricted to a ‘minimal’ role, amounting in practice to little more than the maintenance of domestic order and personal security. For this reason, advocates of negative freedom have usually supported minimal state intervention and sympathised with laissez-faire capitalism. This is not to say, however, that state intervention in the form of economic management or social welfare can never be justified, but only that it cannot be justified in terms of freedom.
