Jim Devine: right. In addition, we have to be clear that we embrace a positive definition of freedom, i.e., the freedom to do what we want, rather than the negative one (freedom from external restraint, usually from government rules).
^^^^^^^ CB: Yes, this is an important dimension of the materialist concept of freedom over the bourgeois concept. Having enough food, shelter, health care, material necessities enables freedom. We are not against what you refer to as negative freedom - individual freedom from the state punishing you for speech, practicing religion or other thinking/speaking activities or to carry guns , as contained in the bourgeois US Bill of Rights. But the US Constitution should also provide a right to affrimative provision of a job, income, food, etc. not only freedom from prohibitions (negative freedoms). It must provide rights _to_ material requisites to exercise of freedom , not just freedom _from_ government interference. Materialist freedom includes the bourgeois or idealist "negative " freedoms from inteference or prohibition of thought/speaking and adds to them the positive freedoms of enablement through provision of material necessities to live without which one cannot think or speak. ^^^^^ of course, this isn't true or absolute freedom, since what we want is determined by our genes and upbringing, by biology and society. ^^^^ CB: If I follow you here, we as individuals are not born with the ability to totally create from scratch our own needs, wants and desires. We aren't born blank slates that start writing on ourselves. _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
