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I agree with John Lock's opinion that freedom cannot exist without a will to exercise it.
I also agree with his opinion that a will cannot be said to exist unless it has the freedom
to act.
Concerning liberty, John Locke defined liberty as "to be under no other legislative power
but that established by consent in the commonwealth".
Freedom is not an absolute quality, freedom exists only in finite measure. This is
because freedom is human freedom, and human freedom is determined and measured
both by physical necessity, and by physiological and psychological needs.
If we exert our power over the world, then this exertion of power is itself a vital aspect of
human freedom. If the influence of human power over nature has any influence, does not
this influence serve to enhance, intensify, deepen, strengthen, elevate and maximize
human freedom? If this influence of power serves to change our state of freedom/liberty,
then perhaps this very alteration or mutation of freedom/liberty is a transition or
transformation of freedom/liberty from a lower degree to a larger degree of freedom/
liberty. Perhaps the use of power and of freedom is what regulates whether or not the
influence of human beings is for the better, or for the worse.
What good is liberty if not to exert power?
Pythagoras said: "No one is free, who is not master of himself." This is very true. But, it
is also very true that we are not free to the degree that we do not understand and master
nature, to the extent that we do not make sense of and thereby tame and govern necessity.
Human freedom will be enlarged to the extent that we use our powers to humanize nature,
and to humanize necessity, as far as we can achieve this humanization.
Aeschylus said: "No one is free except Zeus." Monotheists believe that God alone
possesses absolute freedom. This is because God is believed to be super-natural,
above and outside nature, over nature and independent of nature. To the measure that
we humanize nature, and create an artificial environment, we also have the ability, the
power, and the liberty to completely govern this humanized environment. God is believed
to be absolutely free, because God is believed to be the creator of all that is not God.
God is believed to have power over what God has created. Human beings cannot be
absolutely free, because human beings did not create nature; but, to the degree that
human beings re-create nature, humanize and civilize nature, domesticate and dominate
nature, to that degree human beings are free. To the degree that human beings govern
their social life, decide about their collective existence, to this degree human beings are
free.
Voltaire defined freedom as "the power of doing what we will". If Voltaire's definition of
freedom is a valid, or a viable description of freedom, then freedom and power are
connected; the two ideas are associated, such that the one is related to the other.
Freedom is equated with power; power is identified with freedom.
There are those who will say that freedom is the dialectical opposite of power. Some
will say that power both creates and opposes freedom. And, some will say that our
state of liberty affects how we continue to exert power.
John Adams said some things about liberty and power which ought to be considered,
contemplated, and evaluated. John Adams defined liberty as "a power to do as we
would be done by". Adams also defined liberty as "a self-determining power in an
intelligent agent". According to Adams, liberty "implies thought and choice and power".
John Dewey defined liberty as "effective power to do specific things".
Dante Alighieri defined liberty as "the unhampered translation of will into act".
Hugo Grotius defined liberty as "the power that we have over ourselves".
"Knowledge and human power are synonymous."
-- Francis Bacon |
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Posted by rallen2 on 2008-01-27 15:58:47 | Rating: | Views: 37
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