freedom/liberty

• Freedom/liberty

  The ability to act as one wishes, being free from any restrictions or limitations
• .Early liberals objected to the way in which authoritarian governments claimed a right to take decisions on behalf of people and attempted to regulate their behaviour
• leading thinker, Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), maintained that each individual can decide what is in his or her own interests. He argued that human actions are motivated mainly by a desire to pursue pleasure and to avoid pain.
• Jeremy benthen - 'Government should not prevent people from doing what they choose unless their actions threaten others' ability to do the same for themselves'
• classical liberals have believed in negative freedom, in that freedom consists in each person being left alone, free from interference and able to act in whatever way he or she may choose. This conception of freedom is ‘negative’ in that it is based on the absence of external restrictions or constraints on the individual.
• Modern liberals, on the other hand, have been attracted to a more ‘positive’ conception of liberty, positive freedom, defined by Berlin as the ability to be one’s own master; to be autonomous. Self-mastery requires that the individual is able to develop skills and talents, broaden his or her understanding, and gain fulfilment