Re: Freedom Posted by Smiley on August 21, 1998 at 11:21:16:
In Reply to: Freedom posted by Spades5150 on July 28, 1998 at 12:50:58:
What is true freedom?
The Greeks perhaps originated the Western idea
of freedom, but they understood the idea in the
context of a society with lots of slaves. Can
there really be freedom without slavery?
One of the central arguments in _Paradise Lost_
is that obedience to God is not a negation of
human freedom. Is that reasonable? Can there
be freedom without obedience? How about freedom
with obedience?
Why does Hume's argument attempting to reconcile
liberty and necessity seem so wrong, and Sophistic,
to most of us? (He argues that, by definition,
free will consists of lack of external restraint,
and that physical necessity (ie laws of physics
governing the brain) is internal and therefore
does not negate our free will.)
What about certain Buddhist viewpoints that
freedom is an internal mental state, so that
someone tied in a straitjacket can be perfectly
free? Indeed, they argue that outside of this
mental state, there are always constraints such
as desire for wealth or power, and this internal
state is the only true freedom.
Mu