![]() One only lacks political liberty if he/she is “prevented from attaining a goal by human beings” (Berlin 1969, 122). ![]() Key to negative freedom is the notion of non-interference. Carter clearly and concisely explains the distinction “negative liberty is the absence of obstacles, barriers or constraints… Positive liberty is the possibility of acting … in such a way as to take control of one’s life” (2008). In a long and detailed discussion, Berlin then makes the distinction between positive and negative freedom. ![]() Why should an individual obey anyone else? May individuals be coerced? Why should we all not live as we like? These are all questions of freedom. He begins with stating that in political philosophy, the dominant issue is the question of obedience and coercion. ![]() In political thought, the notion of freedom can be looked at through the lens of Isaiah Berlin’s renowned essay “Two Concepts of Liberty”. This is an important concept because we must decide whether individuals are free, whether they should be free, what this means and what kinds of institutions we are to build around these ideas. From Thucydides, through to Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, John Stuart Mill and Jean Jacques Rousseau, the concept of freedom has continually been dealt with to some degree in political thought. ![]() Philosophers have been pondering the notion of freedom for thousands of years. ![]()
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