Implications of Negative and Positive Freedom - Coursework Example

Running Head: Implications of negative and positive freedom Name Title Institution Date Abstract Liberty is a term that is used extensively in political terms to mean the freedom to do as you please. Liberty is accompanied by two distinct types of freedom, positive and negative freedom. The paper looks into bringing out the clear distinction between the positive and the negative freedom since the two terms have very thin distinguishable grounds. It looks into the classical liberals who support the positive freedom and the social liberals who support the notions of negative freedom IMPLICATIONS OF NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE FREEDOM Freedom is the state of being free within the society, being free from oppressive restrictions imposed on by the authorities on one’s way of life. It is the ability for humans to govern themselves, act according to their will and also to be accountable for their own actions. Freedom however, does not always go hand in hand with the type of government running the state since according to Berlin; one can still enjoy freedom in a dictatorship kind of authority so long as the dictator does not interfere with the individuals’ freedom. He also says that given any situation one has the freedom to view things in two different ways. He gave the practical example that if one is suffering from a wound on the leg, he can choose to undergo a procedure that will heal the wound or he can also choose to get rid of the wound as a whole and cut off the leg. This means that one is free then to make a personal decision which reflects what best fits the individual and this decision he makes should be free from interruption or coercion. There exists a crucial relationship between the individual and the state in that the state has duty to provide to its citizen good living conditions and to respect the rights that individuals have. In the same essence the individual has a right of self-development which in return results to the building of the society that he is in. Freedom can be viewed from two distinct sides. There exist the classical liberals, who support negative freedom which they believe is freedom of an individual from outside compulsion. That is, it is the power of one to fulfill his own potential without experiencing any obstacles, barriers or constrains. The classical liberals believe that it is the state’s role to cater for its people and this means it should provide for them with employment, health facilities and also address on their social needs. In the classical view it is also up to the state to continue looking into the issues of civil rights, listening to the citizen’s opinions on the civil rights and also to continuously expand the civil right provided to its people.1 Then there are the social liberals who support the concept of positive freedom which can be defined as one’s freedom to choose who or what governs his life and the society he lives in. They emphasize on the social structure and agency. Social liberalism is the belief that liberalism should be social justice and that the good of the community should be concurrent with the freedom of the individual that is what the individual deems fit in his opinion. According to the social liberals, liberty is a form of a collective thing and it includes everyone in the society. Everyone in the society must be involved in contributing to the well being of the society. Positive freedom has always been presented to be achieved through a collectivity. This means that individuals practice their positive freedom when they participate in the process where one’s community exercises collective control over its own affairs according to the general will or the majorities will. 2In the case of positive freedom the state intervenes only to stop any impediments on individual’s freedom. Positive freedom is guaranteed to you by law. It can also be defined as the ability of personal development and self-mastery. The freedom to realize one’s potential. Social evils like poverty, unemployment and social disadvantage are normally seen as constrains to positive freedom. This is because they impair the individual’s ability to flourish and to develop. Examples of positive freedom are the freedom from ignorance, meaning that an individual has a right to education. This is where the state comes in and intervenes for the individuals who lack the ability to access the basic education. The state can subsidize the costs of education or come up with programs that can offer free education up to a certain level. They can also come up with bodies that offer scholarship to the bright in the society but they lack funds for obtaining a decent education. There is also freedom from disease, which is the right from disease. Since the state’s main goal is to ensure that its people have resources to flourish and also to guide its people to realize their potential, the state through the government can provide medical health care at low costs in the governmental hospitals since the less advantaged cannot afford to access the expensive private medical care. Freedom from want means that an individual has a right to a social minimum. The state should provide for people social amenities where the citizens can gather to and interact. This can include building of social halls and public places where individuals can go to celebrate public holidays. Positive freedom has in a long time been used as the foundation to push forward certain ideas and principals. They include things like; everyone should be entitled to a minimum income and a certain standard of living. If the state focuses on these kinds of entitlements and actually ensures that everyone is receiving a certain amount of income the citizen is supposed to give back to the society. An example is the Social Security that is provided to the unemployed for a limited time whereby the individual should work hard to look for a means of employment. However, with such assurances from the government, there tends to be an increase in the moral hazard since there are those individuals who will do nothing in terms of looking for employment since they are assured of an entitlement that is being paid monthly3 However, positive freedom is said to be contradictory in it. This can be easily understood in the following scenario. An individual can be said to be practicing positive freedom yet he remains permanently oppressed.4 This can be brought out clearly in situation where people involve in a democratic process, a process which results to the majority ruling. For the individual who falls under the minority class, this for him means that he will be permanently oppressed yet he had taken part in exercising self-control over his own affairs. 5Negative freedom can be defined as the power to act without obstacles, barriers or constrains. Both the individual and the state should be able to act freely without outside interference. No intervention comes from the government or restrictions to allow choice and privacy. However, according to negative freedom the state can only intervene if its aim is to come in and prevent harm to others. It is freedom that is yours because there is no law that restricts it. In negative freedom, the state is viewed as the principal source of interference with the individuals’ freedom. An expansion of the individual negative freedom means that there has to be a contraction of the state power. However, this does not mean that the individuals are entitled to unrestricted forms of negative freedom; a line must be drawn on the limits. The state may also get to be guaranteed negative freedom so long as it protects individuals from interference of other fellow individuals.6 Negative freedom can be conducted through checks on the governmental powers and this can be done through Bills of Rights and/or the constitution. Bills of Rights can be described as a series of restrictions and limitations to the power granted to the state. Its main aim is to protect the natural right of the individuals living in the state. Examples of negative freedom include freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of religious worship and also freedom of association. Freedom of speech comes in a long way to guarantee that the minority speak out their views and their oppressions. There is also the freedom of press.7 This right has certain restrictions to the state and this means that it doesn’t have a right to interfere with people’s opinions that are printed in newspapers or depicted in the media. However, the government reserves the right to intervene if it believes that the materials that are being published or aired are explicit or harmful to other individuals of the state.8 There is also the freedom of owning private property that is allowed in some states. If a certain individual purchases a certain land and decides to use for his own personal use, he is practicing his negative freedom, However, if the person decides to invade land that was already owned by someone or is under the management of the state the person is going against the negative freedom and this means that the state has a right to intervene and save the situation by coming up with a solution.9 Another practical example of a negative freedom is, a person may have the freedom to smoke at his own pleasure in his own house but he cannot do so at someone’s house or at a place that in not a designated smoking zone. Should he smoke in a place that has a restriction of smoking, the people around him have the right to question him since in smoking at the restricted place he is interfering with the comfort of other people? The state owes it to its citizens to respect their negative freedoms. The Nazi Germany government is a perfect example of a government that did not respect the negative freedom for its citizens. This was evident in the fact that the citizens did not have the right to speech, the right to movement and also the right of association since it was passed forward that the Germans would not associate with the Jews. The most harm they did however was when they took away the right to life for the citizens when they killed millions of Jews. After the passing of this government body, several Bills of Rights were passed forward by activists who wanted to ensure that the rights would never be violated again. 10 The idea of negative freedom and positive freedom have sometimes presented a difficulty in understanding but if one grasps the full concept that negative freedom is the freedom from interference and that positive freedom is the freedom to do things at your own will which is protected by the government then one can get a clear distinction of the two. More emphasis is always laid on the negative freedom compared to the positive freedom since the negative freedom can be easily breached by the government as the example of the Nazi government clearly depicts. When the state satisfies all the recommendations that it is supposed to make to its citizen, there will be few interruptions from running the government and there will be a fair environment existing for the citizens and the government to enjoy.11 The main distinction between positive and negative freedom is that the main restrictions on a negative freedom arises from a person and in this case the government while in positive freedom, the main restriction arises from natural causes or from a certain incapacity, for example a person can be born into a family with a poor background and this becomes the norm of his life. That is why when it comes to the case of positive freedom, it is the government’s duty to ensure that it provides for the citizens the basic needs required for human survival. References Berlin I (1958 October 31st). Two Concepts of Liberty.Clarendon Press. Carter I. (2008, Fall). The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.Positive and Negative liberty. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/ De Ruggiero G. (1959). The History of European Liberism. Pp. 155-157. JohnLee M.K (2007, July 19). Positive and Negative Liberty. Retrieved from http://www.infernalramblings.com/articles/Law/557/ Birch, A. H. (2007) Concepts and Theories of Modern Democracy, 3rd Edition, Oxon: Routledge. Goodwin, B. (2007) Using Political Ideas, 5th Edition, Chichester: John Wiley and Sons. Heywood, A. (2004) Political Theory; Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan. Hoffman, J. & Graham, P. (2009) Introduction to Political Theory, 2nd Edition, Essex: Pearson. Miller, D. (2003) Political Philosophy: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: OUP. Miller, D. (Ed.) (2006) The Liberty Reader, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Thompson, M. (2010) Understanding Political Philosophy: Teach Yourself, London: Hodder Education. Read More