The Complexities of Freedom: A Philosophical Examination

This essay delves into the multifaceted concept of freedom from a philosophical standpoint, examining whether absolute freedom is attainable. The essay explores various perspectives, including those of Derrida, Jacques, Rogues, Colebrook, and Bhaskar, highlighting the relationship between freedo...Read More

Philosophy
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Introduction
Freedom is a term used to make the person free from any kind of barriers or restriction to
live independently and take decision on his own. However, the absolute freedom might be
riskiness in certain cases due to thoughts of people to get the freedom to do anything such as
extort, rape and murder. For this purpose, full freedom is not possible due to role of government
and regulatory framework. It would be effective to protect the right of people and ensure their
well being by thinking of the society or general public as whole. The current essay covers three
important resources and accordingly discussion has been done on the topic “is freedom
possible”.
According to Derrida, Jacques and Rogues (2005) freedom is the hypothetical principle
which is attributed to democracy. They focused on political intervention and relationship
between justice and democracy. They found that democracy is highly promoted and all decision
are taken on the basis of the same. At this juncture, the aspect of equality of all citizen is
presumed but not considered to a great extent. It affects the decision making of general public
and affect them in selecting the desired option in accordance with their own will. Furthermore,
their study reveals that circular motion is found under the power transformation. For example,
power is transferred from one to another persona and the same come back to the one who owes
the same. Derrida, Jacques and Rogues found two reasons where the first one is of free wheel
which present the indetermination of center concept of democracy. The second reason is freedom
shed light on experience of freedom which reflect the condition of the free wheel. At this
juncture, it is important to assess the whether the freedom is characterized by political and social
behaviour. However, the also focused on the link between democracy and freedom that how
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effectively both are connected under which general public got the power the select their
government and ensure their own well being.
In this manner, it is not necessary that freedom is derived easily and people get whatever
they need. However, they rely on the aspect of democracy so as to select the most suitable aspect
for their well being of country and general public as whole. It has been found that eleutheria or
exousia are two major reasons of the freedom under which first shed light on the disengagement
in the form of free wheel. It can be critically evaluated that democracy cannot be seen around
such kind of aspects because of the issue that it does not ruin itself. Another, potential aspect is
of orientation connected to the interpretation, so the reinterpretation associated with the concept
of freedom. It reflects that freedom is not indicating the power, force or mastery. This is because
individual person is not getting higher power to take the decision on his own to role or deal with
specific situation. Author stressed on the meaning of freedom that how freedom is possible
without understanding its actual fact or meaning. They found that freedom is considered as the
perfect Independence from every obstacle through which a person can take decision for his own.
Apart from this, fraternity, justice and equality are connected with the freedom. Moreover, the
word freedom itself is seemed to be presuppose by politics, law and democracy from long time
ago. However, they noticed that authors like Aristotle and Plato defined that freedom as
independence, power and mastery. It has been noticed that meaning and usefulness of freedom is
different in every context. In case of political philosophy the word freedom derives its meaning
in the form of ability to act, power or faculty so that people can be ruled (Freedom is Impossible,
2017). However, this restrict the power of another people and shrink their freedom to a great
extent. At this juncture, it can be called as the democratic political philosophy under which
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people select their government and elect others to take the major decisions on behalf of them. It
reflects that entire freedom is not possible due to association of other higher party for the
development and growth of general community. They made the scenario of freedom understood
by taking examples of several field such as Heidegger who thought of “free of freedom”.
Furthermore, freedom is restriction free live of individual under which he or she can do
anything without seeking the permission of other person. For this purpose, it becomes essential
to get whether the freedom is derived from sharing the space or not. This term indicates that
freedom is obtained with the help of sharing the space under which individual allow others to
take the decision on behalf of him or his. Such kind of scenario restrict their power to a great
extent and some time they might be considered as the looser. Therefore, freedom reflects that no
any connection with the anybody but own will of person. However, the law and governing body
also shed light on the individual freedom by constructing such effective practices or regulation. It
enables general community and government to work effective in the direction of growth and
development. In this manner, freedom do not measures itself with anything. It facilitates to
ensure the completion of all related activities and provide justice for the associated parties. In
this manner authors highlighted two concepts along with the freedom such as equality and
freedom. Here, equality is considered as the integral part of freedom it is because a person
having the freedom will surely be equally treated. For example, equality is the society provide
freedom for all people to select the job or work according to their own profile.
Apart from this, attribute of freedom is the consequence of the experience of freedom.
Because generally people who have got enough freedom tend to become egoistic and affect the
working of others to a great extent. For this purpose, it is important to maintain the equality for
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all people and provide the freedom. However, the democracy is also effective but freedom
should be give in higher proportion for the general public. It would make all the procedure quite
easy and satisfactory. Hence, all task related to freedom is added under the concept of equality so
as to accomplish all related activities in an effectual manner.
Colebrook (2014) stated that freedom within boundaries is possible as a person cannot go
beyond the boundary. For example, if one thinks to null the effects or gravity then it will not be
possible. Owing to this, appropriate freedom can be provided within the boundary to live the life
independently. They stated that absolute freedom is not attainable which is manifested with the
help of current liberal democracy. It shed light on full freedom of person on the basis of certain
legislation and regulation so as to accomplish all related activities and provide the successful
basis. It is the major reason that society imposes several kind of barriers on the action of
individual so as to determine the safety and well being of all associated people. Otherwise it
becomes problematic. On the other hand, fact is number of restriction are increasing in
accordance with the current situation. Here, individual feel protected and take decision in the
boundary assigned. They further stated that freedom is different aspect which involve several
kind of activities and action of person in case of requirement. However, situation differs in case
society or democratic system of country do not allow them to act as per their own will. For
example, rich people do not have right to exploit the poor by not paying off the tax. It is the
equal right for all citizen of country to pay off the tax and earn the money in an ethical manner.
In case a person taking advantages of government regulation and earning the money in unethical
form then he or she will be definitely punished as they are not supposed to go beyond the set
boundary of freedom. In this manner, freedom is possible but not to a great extent. However, the
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concept of power and freedom are separated due to involvement of different perception or views
of the society or world as whole. For example, a well-respected person can effectively form the
crowd and has freedom to speak to public. This happens because of confidence level and higher
involvement of people. It is the fact that crowd follow the well respected person and at that
particular point of point of time freedom is realized among every individual. It is the reason the
democratic society is evolving to a great extent as people get the assurity of promised freedom.
In this manner, authors reflected the imparting absolute freedom would ruin the general public
and society as well. Owing to this, it is not possible to get the full freedom. Therefore, certain
level of freedom would help them to complete all related activities and determine the successful
completion of their personal activities. Therefore, it becomes easy for democratic society to cater
requirement of common individual.
According to Bhaskar (2013) control and freedom used to be popular concepts during the
last decade. However, meaning derived from both concepts is different and it can be associated
together. He found that idea of freedom and philosophy is just like reclaiming the reality. This is
because freedom is already provided to work independently and take decision for their own care.
However, the freedom is influenced by the power but it was criticized as the idea of freedom is
hostile. He found that freedom might be possible but not to all level. It differs from action and
activities of human being that whether he is willing to conduct the criminal activities or what. In
certain cases people do consider the meaning of freedom as their capabilities or capacity to get
involved under the abnormal disclosure. Though, freedom is referred as the moral agent under
which person feel free to take decision for his own safety and conduct the right kind of act so as
to derive his own higher level of satisfaction. On a critical note, freedom as the recognition of
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contingency affect overall working in a negative manner. For this purpose, some sort of freedom
is at issue and a person is not eligible to get such kind of freedom as it violate human right and
do not provide them appropriate environment to live in.
For this purpose, only certain level of freedom is possible under which person need to
carry out ethical activities only and fight for his own right. For example, a democratic society
offer chance for public to select their own party through voting and other related practices. This
strategy enables governing body to consider the view and suggestions of general public. In
addition to this, type of freedom must be considered by the democratic parties or governing
bodies under which general public do not feel pressurized but happy with current situation
(Brehm and Brehm, 2013). It seems to be effective freedom under which everything remain well
planned and nice so as to protect the right of all associated parties and make them feel happy.
However, freedom and equality as well as power should aligned otherwise people are pressurized
even with the freedom. This is because people with power tend to rule others and exploit them to
a great extent. Such kind of situation can be better handled by introduction of necessary
legislation and regulation in the country.
Conclusion
The aforementioned essay concludes that freedom is not possible in an absolute manner
as individual are provided certain level of freedom because of ethics. They are not supposed to
go beyond to set boundary so as to protect the right all citizen living the country or general
public. However, power and equality influence the freedom level to a great extent because
people with power tend to show that they have got more freedom. This manifests that proper
balance should be maintained among the mentioned things. It can also be concluded that freedom
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is possible under the democratic society which provide certain boundary and specific criteria to
use the freedom.
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References
Bhaskar, R., (2013). Philosophy and the Idea of Freedom. Routledge.
Brehm, S. S. & Brehm, J. W., (2013). Psychological Reactance: A Theory of Freedom and
Control. Academic Press.
Colebrook, C., (2014). Jacques Derrida: Key Concepts. Routledge.
Derrida, J., (2005). Rogues: Two Essays on Reason. Stanford University Press.
Freedom is Impossible. (2017). [Online]. Available through:
<http://www.anus.com/zine/articles/twitsta/freedom/>. [Accessed on 31st May 2017].
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