Jim Devine asks: "in popular language (or even technical language), is there any difference of meaning between the words "freedom" and "liberty"? why do the money libertarians like the word "liberty" more than "freedom"? inquiring minds want to know,"
---------------------------------- >From September 29, 2009, on this list: Jim Devine writes: >> BTW, why is it that money libertarians like the word "liberty" while >> most other people like the word "freedom"? Most people seem to use the >> two words interchangeably. Here is a theory. "Money libertarians," as you call them, are the contemporary descendants of 19th Century "Liberalism," which term is rooted in "Libertas," and Libertas is at root a legal status of a free-man (i.e. not a slave). The term "freedom," on the other hand, through the efforts of Germans like Hegel, and then transmitted to the English speaking world through interpreters like T.H. Green, became associated with what you call "positive freedom" (i.e. a free-man who makes a bad choice, or is limited by circumstance in making choices, is not really "free"). Therefore, to "money libertarians." liberty is a status relationship between man and the state, while for the modern day Hegelians, freedom is more of a psychological state of a man. Money libertarians, aware (contra Mr. Andrews) of the efforts of the modern day Hegelians to minimize the importance of legal status in order to justify state power, therefore, prefer "liberty" rather than "freedom" as the ideal. David Shemano _______________________ I suggest we pick a date in 2017 when Jim will be permitted to ask the question again. David Shemano
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