perhaps any use of the word "freedom" should be joined to a qualifier,
such as "negative" or "positive."
(These refer to absence of external restraints on an individual and
the ability to be and do, respectively.
("Negative liberty is the absence of obstacles, barriers or
constraints. One has negative liberty to the extent that actions are
available to one in this negative sense. Positive liberty is the
possibility of acting — or the fact of acting — in such a way as to
take control of one's life and realize one's fundamental purposes.
While negative liberty is usually attributed to individual agents,
positive liberty is sometimes attributed to collectivities, or to
individuals considered primarily as members of given collectivities."
-- from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/)
On Mon, Aug 8, 2011 at 1:45 AM, Julio Huato <[email protected]> wrote:
> Carrol Cox wrote:
>
>> Freedom is the ability to act without considering the future results of
>> the action.
>
> Therefore non-human animals are most free. And if we extend the
> meaning of "action" to include all types of motion, then inanimate
> matter is absolutely free in the Carrolian sense.
>
> In fact, human freedom is based precisely on our consciousness of
> necessity -- of cause and effect, of the regularities of nature and
> human life. Human freedom is ultimately based on the human power
> that results from such consciousness -- human productive power, big
> enough to be productive of social structures that foster cooperation
> and mutual solidarity.
>
> Because we can only be free as socialized individuals -- individuals
> who don't ignore and shun their mutual interdependence (and their
> ultimate dependence on nature) but embrace it (them) and build social
> structures where their necessary interdependence (and our metabolism
> with nature) can be better managed.
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--
Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own
way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
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