Freedom: concepts, history, and philosophical perspectives

Freedom Is Formally Defined in Numerous Different Ways, Depending on Context:

the ability to consider multiple viewpoints and to think in objective terms is intellectual freedom; the willingness to express thoughts and opinions without fear is freedom of expression; the ability to worship as one wishes is religious freedom, and the ability to participate in government and to contribute to the administrative control over society is political freedom. Freedom as between whole societies relative to each other is national freedom or sovereignty.

In human relations and societal context, freedom is largely synonymous with liberty, which, at the most basic level, pertains to the absence of forced oppression or control. Conversely, physical, mental, or psychological oppression or subjugation are the antithesis of freedom. Slavery is one of the clearest examples of all-encompassing denial of freedom, precisely because it entails the denial of so many (if not all) other forms of human freedoms, in addition to physical freedom. Even some nations that currently value and protect individual freedoms were once less free societies: this country was originally founded by settlers who abandoned British rule to pursue religious freedom.

Likewise, for much of the first half of its history, the United States failed to respect the concept of freedom by practicing slavery.

Moral freedom is a more abstract concept and in many cases, social norms and the rules or laws imposed by society establish the specific lines that define our public freedoms. The freedom of the individual in society is relative rather than absolute.

Objectively just societies strive to construct enforceable rules to protect freedoms for which there is no moral justification to restrict, and simultaneously, to ensure that no freedoms permitted by the rule of law are restricted by other individuals. Objectively unjust societies impose social rules and laws that are not necessarily designed to coincide with the moral concepts that are reflected in the freedoms recognized by just societies.

John Stuart Mill suggested in his famous work on Liberty (1859) that human freedom in society should be absolute to the extent an individual's desired conduct does not harm other individuals. Experts in philosophy (Taylor, 1980) consider the following passage to represent Mill's position most comprehensively:

The object of this Essay is to assert one very simple principle...That principle is, that the sole end for which mankind are warranted, individually or collectively in interfering with the liberty of action of any of their number, is self-protection. That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others." (Shields, 1956).