The protection of interpersonal freedoms can be the object of a social and political investigation, while the metaphysical foundation of inner freedom is a philosophical and psychological question. Both forms of freedom come together in each individual as the internal and external values mesh together in a dynamic compromise and power struggle; the society fighting for power in defining the values of individuals and the individual fighting for societal acceptance and respect in establishing one's own values in it.

Spiritually, freedom encompasses the peaceful acceptance of reality. The theological question of freedom generally focuses on reconciling the experience or reality of inner freedom with the omniptence of the divine. Arguments for and against the existence of inner freedom, in either religious or other senses, are compared and contrasted by Roderick Hindery in frameworks called Determinist, Existential, and Experiential. The paramount issue is whether existence or lack of freedom can be established solely from the viewpoint of external observation or also from that of inner experience.

In philosophy

An absence of restraint

Freedom has often been used a rallying cry for revolution or rebellion. For instance, the Bible records the story of Moses leading his people out of slavery, and into freedom. In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech Martin Luther King, Jr. quoted an old spiritual song sung by black American slaves: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty we are free at last!"

Inner autonomy

• the ability to act in accordance with the dictates of reason;
• the ability to act in accordance with one's own true self or values;
• the ability to act in accordance with universal values (such as the True and the Good); and
• the ability to act independently of both the dictates of reason and the urges of desires, i.e. arbitrarily (autonomously).

In a play by Hans Sachs, the Greek philosopher Diogenes speaks to Alexander the Great, saying: You are my servants' servant. The philosopher has conquered fear, lust, and anger; Alexander still serves these masters. Though he has conquered the world without, he has not yet mastered the world within. This kind of mastery is dependent upon no one and nothing other than ourselves. Richard Lovelace's poem echoes this experience:

Stone walls do not a prison make

Nor iron bars a cage

Minds innocent and quiet take

That for an hermitage

The French philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau asserted that the condition of freedom was inherent to humanity, an inevitable facet of the possession of a soul and sapience, with the implication that all social interactions subsequent to birth imply a loss of freedom, voluntarily or involuntarily.

Historical origins

Usage

• Political freedom is the absence of political restraints, particularly with respect to speech, religious practice, and the press.

• Personal liberty can refer to not being in prison (including not being a victim of false imprisonment). It may also refer to the enjoyment of all of the privileges of membership of a place or club (as in the honour, the Freedom of the City), financial freedom or anarchism.

• Freedom of choice, i.e. free will.

• Freedom of speech is similar to freedom of information, but refers to a general lack of such restrictions (on the creation, use, modification and dissemination of ideas) in a society by the government or those that hold power in that society.

• Economic freedom usually means the degree to which economic actors are unfettered by governmental restrictions, as in the Index of Economic Freedom. Critics of capitalistic free markets equate Economic freedom with economic power. Some economists, such as those responsible for the Wall Street Journal/Heritage Foundation Index, frame the issue of economic freedom as "the degree to which the public sector interferes with the private sector," and argue that the less a government acts to interfere with the economic freedom of businesses and individuals (such as through taxation or law), the healthier the economy will tend to be. Other schools of economic thought argue that the public sector need not always be seen as an unwanted intruder on the economy, that government action should not be seen as necessarily interfering or freedom-infringing. (See also ^*, Free trade)

• Freedom of thought is also known as freedom of conscience and refers to the right of an individual to hold a particular thought, belief or viewpoint regardless of those held by others.

• Psychological freedom, i.e. the ability to make the choice to not be afraid of failure in its most basic form.

• Being not in any relationship (be it a romantic relationship or a cooperative, for example), free to do what one wants, including starting a new relationship or having relationship tests (like one-night-stands, casual physical intimacy, etc).

• Freedom of education closely resembles autodidacticism, which views modern schooling as a dismal system of captivity. Students have traditionally seen gaps in the school year as freedom from their oppression. This idea is not to be confused with liberal education, as one may interpret them as opposites.

• Software freedom or other freedom of information (or ideas); i.e.: information (esp. software) being free of technological or (more commonly) legal restrictions on its use, modification, distribution and (less often restricted) creation. See also: Free software, Open source and gratis software.

• Leaving one's parents' home and coming of age.

• The absence of interactions in physics; for example, asymptotic freedom discovered by David Gross, David Politzer, and Frank Wilczek.

• For the shorter term, being free also means having holidays, weekend, finished work for the day, having a break.

• Political philosopher Gerald MacCallum designed the following concept of freedom, allowing for its 'fleshing out' into many different conceptions: "X is free/not free from Y to do/not do/become/not become Z."

• Freedom from government and Church - Christian anarchism.

References