Principles for a Free Society FREEDOM

[William M. Finley]

Freedom
“The only freedom that deserves the name is that to pursuing our own good
in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or
impede their efforts to obtain it.”
John Stuart Mill
What is freedom?
Freedom means that one should be able to choose to act without interference
by others. One should be able to decide how one wants to
live one’s life, unless the action interferes with the liberty of others.
Liberty is another word (or synonym) for freedom. To protect freedom
is one of the primary purposes of government.
The moral value of freedom is now recognised as a major feature of the
modern world, but it was not always so. For most of the history of
mankind, it was thought that the purpose of government was to promote
virtue, the good life and the good society. Humans were expected
to work towards a common good decided by society and to subordinate
their own interests and wants to a higher good. Originally freedoms or
liberties were specific rights or entitlements given to particular groups or
individuals, such as a baron or a guild. There was no general right to
freedom. The idea of freedom as a general condition belonging to all was
a development of the 18th century and associated with Hobbes and
Locke. Locke stated “The end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to
preserve and enlarge freedom.” The purpose of government was to protect
the freedom of individuals. This became one of the themes of the
nineteenth century, the rise of freedom as the primary political value. In
the twentieth century it came under threat from two sources: those who
argued that freedom was a minor value that should be subordinated to
the achievement of a higher goal, such as communism or a racially pure
state, and from those, such as socialists, who sought to change the concept
of freedom to justify a more extensive interference in people’s lives
by government.
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The right to live one’s own life
Freedom is often expressed in the language of rights. I have a right to
decide where I live, or where I work, or with whom I live my life. No
one should force me or stop me from doing what I wish, provided I
respect the rights of others. This comes from the natural rights tradition
of Locke. Liberty means acting within one’s rights, whereas it is not freedom
to impinge on the rights of others. That would be an abuse of freedom,
or ‘licence’.
Freedom is identified with limited government and the free market. The
role of government is to provide the rules or framework that enables everyone
to be free, to protect them from infringements on their freedom by
others. The free market is associated with economic freedom or freedom of
choice: the freedom of the consumer to buy, the freedom of the trader to
fix the price of his goods and services (and of the consumer to accept or
refuse to pay it), the freedom of the worker to choose his job or profession,
and the freedom of the producer to produce what he wishes and to employ
whom he chooses. This freedom can only exist in capitalist societies.
The individual is the best judge of his own interests
Only the person himself has the knowledge of his own wants, preferences
and desires, his goals in life, and therefore his interests. It implies
that man has free will, and his choices are not simply determined
by his circumstances or social background. He can use his reason and
understanding of morality to make the right choices for him. Only the
individual knows his own wants and preferences. Others may have their
own ideas about what is right or appropriate for someone else, but none
of them can have the same degree of knowledge as the person himself.
Freedom means a rejection of paternalism, that others are in a better
position to make decisions affecting one’s own life.
Freedom promotes the interests of all
There is no conflict between freedom and order, or the common good
or the interests of others. Freedom operates in the long-term interests of
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all. The utilitarians were great supporters of freedom because it maximises
interests. The result of a free society will be, as Jeremy Bentham
described it, “the greatest happiness of the greatest number.”
Adam Smith developed the idea of ‘the invisible hand’, or what is sometimes
described as ‘spontaneous order.’ Each individual left to his own
devices was “led as if by an invisible hand to promote an end which was
not part of his intention.” Individuals left to be free to purse their own
interests will be led to cooperate with others for their mutual interest
and for society as a whole, promoting the common good. One has to
satisfy the wants of others in order to satisfy one’s own wants. In The
Wealth of Nations Smith claimed, “It is not from the benevolence of the
butcher, the brewer or baker that we expect our dinner but from their
regard to their own interests.” Many of the benefits in society arise from
the unintended consequences of the actions of others, “the result of
human action, but not of human design” in the words of Adam
Ferguson.
Freedom leads to the growth of knowledge
John Stuart Mill argued for toleration, a willingness to allow all to think,
speak and act in ways of which we disapprove. The other person may
indeed be right, or we can improve our own views and understanding
by trying to understand that of others, or we can change the other person
by persuading him and others of the errors of his ways. “I detest
what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,” is a
phrase associated with the French philosopher Voltaire. In a free society
a variety of opinions and beliefs will be expressed and tested in the competition
of ideas. Truth will drive out falsity. The Austrian philosopher
Friedrich Hayek described one consequence of a free society as the
growth of knowledge, and knowledge which cannot be located in one
place or body but is widely dispersed in the minds of every individual.
Liberty allows for the unforeseen and the unpredictable. Central planning,
and forcing individuals to fit in with a certain end goal, prevents
new ideas from emerging and experiments from being conducted.
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Positive “liberty” is not liberty
However some use the term freedom in a very different sense, not in the
traditional sense of ‘did someone prevent me from doing something?’
but the ability to act, or the power to obtain my desires. This identifies a
difference between a higher and a lower self, real from apparent interests.
This was the source of Marx’s concept of ‘false consciousness,’ that people
did not recognise what was in their true or real interests, the overthrow
of capitalism. Only Marxists and the Communist party truly
understood that and therefore should be given the power to achieve it.
This highlights one problem with this idea: it is abused by rulers who
claim to know what is in everyone else’s best interests rather than ask the
people themselves. Jean Jacques Rousseau used the term freedom to
mean obedience to the General Will, or the common good. Any dissidents
therefore should be “forced to be free.” This, of course, from the
common understanding of liberty is nonsense.
The Oxford philosopher Isaiah Berlin labeled the first concept ‘negative
liberty’ and the second ‘positive liberty’ in a famous essay ‘Two Concepts
of Liberty.’ He defined negative liberty as “an area with which man can
act unobstructed by others.” Freedom is thus the realm of unhindered
actions. Hayek described it as “the absence of coercion.” Berlin defined
‘positive liberty’ as “being one’s own master.” He argued that the second
was not liberty at all, but ‘power.’ The denial of liberty involves an
intention to prevent an action. The false concept of liberty is another
word for the lack of power. The difference is between being unable to
buy a book because the state has banned it, and because the book-shop
does not have a copy. The first is a denial of freedom; the second is not.
Positive liberty also implies that the individual should direct himself
to a particular end. Thus the individual appears to exist not for himself
but to satisfy the purposes of collectivities such classes, nations and
races. We exist to serve some higher end, chosen by others rather than
our own purposes and goals. Margaret Thatcher challenged this. “Choice
is the essence of ethics: if there were no choice, there would be no ethics,
no good, no evil; good and evil only have meaning so far as man is free
to choose.”
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The harm principle
Law by its nature constrains individuals from exercising their freedom,
by threatening punishment if they act in certain ways. People are expected
to conform and obey. When is it appropriate for the law to be used
in preventing liberty? John Stuart Mill, in his book On Liberty, provided
a classic formula: ‘the harm principle.’ “The sole end for which mankind
are warranted.... individually or collectively, in interfering with the liberty
of any of their number is self-protection. That the only purpose for
which power can legitimately be exercised over any other member of a
civilised community against his will is preventing harm to others. His
own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant.” In other
words, people should be prevented by law by acting as they wish only
when those actions harm another person or persons. Of course friends
and family and even strangers may seek to convince someone to behave
in a different manner: to live somewhere else, to marry someone else, to
work somewhere else, but these are not areas where the law had a place.
A freedom agenda
As freedom is the right to make choices about every aspect of your life,
provided it respects the equal freedom of others, it is impossible to list
every freedom. There are some liberties which have received particular
attention.
Freedom of conscience, thought and expression. There should be toleration
for different and diverse opinions. The media should be
allowed to publish what they wish. Every religion should be allowed to
be practised. Every individual should be allowed to express their own
opinions without punishment. People have the right to criticise the
views of others but not to prevent them from expressing those opinions.
Truth will emerge from the competition of ideas and beliefs.
Freedom of contract. One should able to trade with whomever one
chooses. There should be freedom to buy and sell with whomever one
wishes at whatever price can be mutually agreed. This also means freedom
between employer and employee to agree the terms of their cooper-
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ation. The state has the role to ensure that such agreements are genuinely
voluntary and does not involve force or fraud. The state also exists to
ensure that contracts are kept by providing courts to enable disputes
about those contracts to be peacefully resolved.
Freedom of association. One should be able to associate or cooperate
with whomever one wishes for whatever purpose, unless it conspires
against the freedoms of others. There should be freedom to marry or
have intimate relations with whom you choose, provided it is by mutual
consent. One should be able to combine with others who share mutual
interests, whether these are political, forming political parties and interest
groups, economic, through business groups or trade unions, or social,
such as stamp collectors or folk dancers.
Freedom is the most precious of values because it is the basis of all other
values. It gives them meaning. It allows us to live our own lives as we
choose. But it also requires the restraint not to interfere in the lives of
others. Every individual, every society, and especially every state, finds
this difficult to achieve.
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Reading
Isaiah Berlin, Four Essays on Liberty, Oxford, Oxford University Press,
1969.
Friedrich Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, London, Routledge, 1960,
chapters 1-5.
Milton Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom, London, University of
Chicago Press, 1962, chapter 1.
John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, London, Penguin, 1971 (1859).
Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Indianapolis, Liberty Press, 1981
(1776).
Questions for thought
1. Why is freedom good?
2. Should the law impose any regulations on whom you work for, how
much you work for, and how many hours you work?
3. Should drugs be legalised?
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