The Concept of Freedom by Isaiah Berlin

The Concept of Freedom by Isaiah Berlin

           Freedom is a vital concept in today’s world. The world itself is a powerful one by all definitions. By using this word, revolutions and influential movements have been started, showing how important the word is in the world’s politics. Interestingly, most people positively view freedom, and what is freedom according to other people does not qualify to be freedom for other people. This shows that there could be different types of freedom or that people could actually be coerced to believe in the name of freedom. These two concerns were behind the inspiration of Isaiah Berlin to develop what he called “Two concepts of liberty.” Berlin debunked the belief that all freedom was positive, and hence; as a result, he subclassified freedom into two- positive freedom and negative freedom.

The two concepts of freedom, according to Berlin are vital in explicitly understanding what freedom is and why humanity had for long been wrong about the entire concept of freedom. According to Berlin, negative freedom is a freedom that is derived from interference (Berlin, 33). In essence, it means that a person is extremely negatively free in a way that other people have no control over his or her actions. In reality, such a person can be said to be enjoying freedom as he is not restricted in any way in his or her actions. Berlin argued that if other people attempted to directly prevent you from doing what you do, or indirectly by supporting economic and social arrangements that disadvantage you, then in essence they are curtailing your negative freedom. Therefore, Berlin stresses that one you can only claim that your freedom is being curtailed if it is caused by other people’s interference, and not natural reasons (Berlin, 50).

The fact that you cannot levitate cannot be classified as a limitation to freedom. Most people accept that for the prevention of chaos and mayhem, we have to be in a position to allow some restrictions on our negative freedom. This is the reasoning behind the enactment of laws and regulations to ensure that people live harmoniously. We usually accept these limitations in exchange for peace, security, and public order. However, it is the nature of humanity to suggest that there are some things that should not be subject to restrictions. For instance, should there be restrictions on religion, sexual identity, or restrictions on what we read online? These questions are subject to philosophical debate, and it shows how the concept of freedom is very complex.

Aside from negative freedom, Berlin also conceptualized the subcategory of freedom he called positive freedom. While negative freedom is liberty from the control or restrictions by others, positive freedom is the freedom to control oneself. To be positively free, it means that you are able to control all the actions you do, by simply being your own master. In particular, this means that you act rationally and make responsible choices on your interests (Berlin, 53). While it may seem that negative freedom and positive freedom are intertwined, there exists a big gap between these two concepts. Berlin noted that controlling yourself to a point where no one can control your actions does not amount to positive freedom. For instance, a drug addict who is deeply hooked in his or her habits to the extent that such actions lead to health issues is not positively free. This is because such a person is lacking in self-control and in essence, his or her actions are not rational and to the best of his or her interests. In such a case it is evident that negative freedom is not curtailed as no one is stopping the person from taking the drugs.

It can be argued that absolute freedom does not exist and that a person is made of two selves, a higher self and a lower self. The lower self is impulsive and irrational and the higher self is foresighted and rational (Berlin, 54). This explains the differences between the perceptions of different people on freedom. A person who is positively free is most likely to have a higher self-being dominant. Such a person has a very different view on the concept of freedom compared to a person whose lower self is dominant. This brings to question as to whether one can actually be coerced in the name of freedom. The answer to this question is definitely yes since there is a huge gap between positive freedom and negative freedom. Everyone is at some point in between, and naturally, our perceptions of freedom keep changing. From these arguments by Berlin, it is evident that we can actually coerce someone to be more positively free. For instance, by restricting the ability of a drug addict to get hold of drugs and money, we can install self-control into such a person, and in essence, boost his or her positive freedom. However, this opens an opportunity for people to initiate interventions that are misguided and unwarranted.

One of the texts we have discussed widely in class is Gyasi’s text, Homecoming. This novel has many instances and themes that are consistent with Berlin’s concepts of positive and negative freedom. For instance, the themes of gender stereotyping and marriage traditions in the society depicted by Gyasi explicitly show the gap between positive and negative freedom. In the society depicted by Gyasi, women have no choice but to get married when they attain a certain age (Gyasi, 12). Surprisingly, they literally have no chance to choose who they marry, which is quite disgusting. In the contemporary world, this would be considered counterproductive and a violation of the freedom of others. Surprisingly, many people in society seem to be okay with this tradition, which raises the question of whether there are different types of freedom. The fact that parents want to see their girls get married and meet the threshold of the community’s traditions is negative freedom. This is because they are hardly stopped and furthermore it seems that most of the girls accept that the status quo should be maintained. However, in one instance, we see Effia marry a British official, not for purposes of meeting the traditional expectations, but as a matter of enhancing a good social standing. This as a practice that shows positive freedom, but in some way the decision is arrived at after some correction, showing that positive freedom can actually be increased if a person is coerced into some actions which are considered good.

Conclusively, the concept of freedom is complex, and this justifies the variation in the views of different people on the concept. However, Berlin’s conceptualization of freedom provides some explanation as to why these differences exist. His idea that freedom is either positive or negative is brilliant as it gives philosophers a basis of understanding the actions that amount to freedom and those that amount to abuse to the freedom of others. In Gyasi’s text, Homecoming, several examples showing both positive and negative freedom in the society depicted by the author exist. However, the fact that a person can be coerced to the effect that positive freedom increases show that absolute freedom does not exist, and this gap can be utilized by those with intentions to misguide and abuse other people’s freedom.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Berlin, Isaiah. “Two concepts of liberty.” Liberty Reader. Routledge, 2017. 33-57.

Gyasi, Yaa. Homegoing: A novel. Vintage, 2016.