March 07, 2011
Positive Liberty and Legal Guarantees
We often equate freedom with an absence of constraints, impediments, or interference. For instance, you have free speech when no one stops you from speaking your mind. Philosophers call this…
We often equate freedom with an absence of constraints, impediments, or interference. For instance, you have free speech when no one stops you from speaking your mind. Philosophers call this…
On one reading of Plato, he advocates rule by philosopher kings.* He might be right, but you’ve got to be suspicious, given that he's a philosopher. On one reading of…
If you were to catalog all the ways people use the words “freedom” or “liberty”, you’d probably come up with a pretty long list. (Here’s an experiment: Search your iTunes…
I’m going to have a few posts on liberty. In particular, I will explain why the libertarian opposition to positive liberty is misguided. If you’re going to philosophize about liberty,…
We’re still in the introductory phase. So, here’s another “what are we talking about” sort of post, in which I make distinctions rather than arguments. The words ‘libertarian’, ‘right libertarian’,…
John Rawls argues that the basic structure of society ought to be evaluated according to two principles. The first principle concerns liberty; the second concerns social justice. In a simplified…