Freedom means different things to different people. It can be understood in the negative sense that a person is free from restraints. It can also be understood in the positive context of being free to exercise a choice among many options. It is difficult to precisely define freedom, because there are so many applications. The core principle undergirding Freedom is being able to have the option of doing something other than what you did.1
As outlined in class the Determinist would say that events have causes and that we have no freedom to choose because it is predetermined due to the causal event. While this may apply in mathematics and to a degree in the science realm, when it comes to human behavior, this theory is very debatable. When given a set of circumstances, a person may choose several different actions. For example; What would you do if someone exercised their freedom of speech and insulted you? You could respond in like manner, you could ponder what would be the reason for the insult and deal with them in that context, you could walk away or many other choices to the “causal” event. Freedom is the ability to act on a choice when there are many other choices available. With this definition of Freedom, there is not much room for “Hard” Determinism.
“Compatibilism is the idea that we have free will even if Determinisim is true.”1 Compatibilism supports the concept of Freedom as being able to make choices from many different options. While Libertarianism supports the concept of alternative choices, it does not make allowances for any causal events to effect behavior. Compatibilism, also known as “Soft” Determinism brings the focus more on the individual and the fact that their self-determination is the cause of their behavior. 2
The Freedom to choose your course of action in any given set of circumstances is limited only by your own constraints of voluntariness. Because this is an internal choice, this self-imposed constraint would still be considered an act of Freedom. There is always a price for Freedom in the context of responsibility. Some people would say that one can only be “free” when there are no restraints on behavior, but this exercise in freedom with no restraints would lead to anarchy and a breach to other people’s freedom. True freedom is being free to act on a choice that you make, believing that it is the best choice of many options.
Position Paper #10 What is Freedom? What is freedom? That would depend on whom you ask. Some people believe that there is no freedom, that everything in your life is premeditated, and that you have no choices whatsoever. I happen to agree to an extent. I know that certain things that make up your physical self are predetermined due to your biological make up, or the DNA and traits you inherit from your parents. Those types of things you can not control…like your eye color or skin color. There is no freedom for choice there. However, for other things in your life, I lean more toward the libertarian point of view. Sure there may be some underlying obstacles in your biology that make you more prone to behavioral issues like alcoholism and drug addiction, but if a drug addict can chose to give up drugs and stay clean, or an alcoholic can chose sobriety and not drink, that then proves that your actions are a direct result of the choices you make. On that note, I also believe that a person should be held accountable for their actions if that person makes bad choices in their lives.
Freedom are the choices that we all make in our everyday lives. We may not be able to choose the life that we were born into, but I do feel we have the freedom to live the life that we want. I also believe that the meaning of freedom has the capability of changing as the years go on. For instance, we can’t control the genes that are passed down from us that may influence our decisions, but with modern technology advancing we may start to have the freedom to change our genetic makeup. If we are unhappy with the way we look, people can have plastic surgery to change their appearance. There have been studies on finding the gene that causes substance abuse, and if they were to locate it we may be able to fix it. I only see our biology making up about five percent of who we are anyways, and that the rest is learned behavior. If a person has a bad habit they have the freedom to change that behavior by retraining the way they think. I would consider myself to be a “soft” determinist, because I do feel that the way we grow up does cause how we behave. However, if we are unhappy with the those attributes we can make an effort to change them; it mostly depends on that person. I believe this is why we can see siblings who were brought up the same way lead different paths. Freedom is an individualistic journey, for instance, my views of it allow me the freedom to live the way that I want and for others they may not feel they ever had the freedom to be anything else. We may not be able to control the world around us, but we do have the freedom to choose how it will effect us.
In my opinion freedom is a right that we earn. Freedom is different to many people in many places. In this country, we are free to a certain extent. The fact that our thoughts are not controlled gives us a somewhat freedom. But we can only act to a certain point. If we cross the line by breaking the law, the our freedom can be taken away. We have the freedom to express ourselves but then again we are limited to what we can say or do. The way we dress, or the school we choose to go to gives us our freedom. We all have the right to do things, but we cant go past the limit. We are free to try new things, and not follow a specific way of living.
What is freedom? I believe that there are many types of freedom and you can’t define freedom without talking a bit about all of them. There are political freedoms that we, Americas, believe are very important and there is individual freedom that every human being should have and value. Political freedoms include the rights protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, like free speech and religious choice. They also include the right to vote and the right to work in any career that interests one. Although political freedom is a very important type of freedom, it is not as important to our idea of “free will” as individual choice. As far as the individual is concerned, freedom is the ability to choose or to act without concerns or forces outside of one effecting said choice or action. If one has individual freedom, one is solely responsible for all of their actions and decisions. Since I believe in personal freedom and responsibility I can’t help but to disagree with determinism and people that argue for it. Determinists believe that every event has a cause or causes including all human actions and choices. They would argue that even if you feel like you chose something or did something of your own “free will” there was some event in your prior history or some natural law that caused you to act or choose the way that you did. Although I believe that one can determine a cause for some events, I don’t believe that human actions or choices are usually caused. If human actions and decisions were not free we could not break bad habits or cycles of negative behavior. For example, I know a man that was beaten as a child as was his father, grandfather and great grandfather before him. When that man had a son of his own he made up his mind that he would never beat his son. That man’s son is almost 22 years old and he has never received a beating from his father. There are times when that man wonders if he has done his son a disservice by never spanking him but he feels like he was very successful in breaking the negative cycle of abuse in his family. If our behavior is determined solely by circumstance, society and the past wouldn’t every poor, neglected and abused person have the same fate? By the same token wouldn’t every person that came from a loving home where his or her every need was met, become a productive member of society? The truth is, some people rise above circumstances, surpass what is expected of them and become someone great while others sink way below their place in society and become someone they never would have imagined. I believe people arrive where they are in their life by the sum of all their choices and should claim responsibility for where ever that may be. That is freedom.
Works Cited: Solomon, Robert C. Introducing Philosophy a Text with Integrated Readings. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print Martin, Suzanne. “Class Lecture” Gateway Community College, Phoenix.9 April.2009. Lecture
Freedom is the ability to act as you see fit as long as you are not impeding on others ability to enjoy their freedom. Freedom must be used responsibly though in that you may be free to murder another (I say this facetiously of course) but by the same token you are also free to be imprisoned for the rest of your life for doing so. Freedom involves not being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Freedom is the opposite of confinement. Prison is an antithesis of being free. Although, one can be free in a different sense while incarcerated. Prison is a locking away of the body from society. As long as a prisoner holds on to what is good inside his soul and inside his brain, he may still remain free while locked up.
People view freedom differently and freedom as an idea is completely contrary depending on who it is that you speak with. Some think that money is the key to freedom, or at least the key to unlock the door. Some feel that traveling the globe, gaining life experience and meeting new people is the essence of being free. You have those who feel purely free making a sandwich on a Saturday afternoon and not having to go to work that day and those who don’t consider themselves free unless they’ve achieved certain goals they’ve set forth in life. My father was one who had hopes that moving to the country of Oregon from the hectic city life of California would garner his family more freedom. These and others are varying ideas of freedom.
In the United States I believe we often have the illusion of freedom. We are surely a lot freer than say, women in Afghanistan or laborers in China; however, I like to look at juxtapositions as illustration of what I mean. For instance, when it comes right down to the wire, you get to pick from TWO (almost exclusively older white men) candidates to serve in arguably the most important job in the world, but when you plop down on the sofa to watch some television you have HUNDREDS of choices of channels to turn to. Now, which is more important, picking the correct president or channel? I think the former carries quite a bit more importance and weight. We are conditioned though that it is better to choose from the black and the white on either side rather than the gray area in between.
Another example is the speed cameras and red light cameras all throughout the valley. Now, as a citizen I would have never voted for cameras to be set up in highly populated areas but that was a matter I had no choice in. Every day, I must drive past them and mind the activity very carefully around the cameras (especially because of everyone else around me and their reactions to the cameras). I would argue that these cameras are a cause of accidents and many more near misses. This is contrary to what we were told, that these cameras are present to increase public safety. Now, if you as a rich person want to outline your property with cameras, that you are free to do. But in a public space such as the freeway or an intersection I think that is something that should be on a ballot. If we are all co-existing in the same space, how are you free to erect cameras to watch me just because you think it will help? It doesn’t matter if case studies showed that installing cameras made an area safer by 75%. I still think I and every other voter should have the freedom of choice in the matter.
I could probably write my 10 page argument paper on this idea of the illusion of freedom and choice.
It is important that one has the utmost freedom connected to his/her existence. I find that when I explore the world within the freedom I have, I learn a great many things. My eyes open up to new ideas and possibilities that freedom has allowed me to be exposed to. Such things as being free to be creative and paint has taken me to different places and cities, allowed me to meet many new people-many of whom later became good friends, and learned about people and places that I might not otherwise have been around. Also, just the activity and freedom of learning about how to paint and improving the techniques required teach me new things about the process and myself. In short, the act of painting and expressing myself leads me down new paths of exploration on a continuous basis. Go freedom.
Freedom is different to everyone, but freedom is when people make decisions of their own. Many people have trouble answering if we have freedom or not, I believe that we do in some amount. Several individuals will say that we don’t have freedom because the government has control over it. Although the government has many laws and sometimes we think some of them are not beneficial, they protect our lives. If someone were to say that they had all the freedom in the world and they decided to kill someone and we didn’t have any laws, there would be few people in this world right now. We still decide how we want to react to certain things, how to dress and eat or who we want to be friends with. When someone starts deciding those things then that’s when we don’t have freedom anymore. There are people in jail because they have committed crimes, but they all have different excuses why they are there. Some grew up in poor, normal or rich neighborhoods, but they had their own freedom to decide if they were going to commit that crime. They could have decided to overcome their obstacles and decide not to do it. Everyone has their freedom and that’s why there are people in prison, others who are working in the career they chose, some going to school to get a better life or others enjoying their spare time. Although there are millions of answers to what is freedom, to me freedom are the choices that someone decides to make.
Freedom has a unique meaning for each person. By definition alone, to be free is to be autonomous, to do as one pleases, of course, this involves certain restrictions. The idea of freedom goes way back to our ancestors. Historically, for thousands of years humans have repeatedly battled to gain their freedom (their birth-right) from tyranny. Every modern country in the world has experienced war (either for power or freedom), and every nation in the world has an independence holiday that commemorates the acquisition of their freedom. Every society has a different concept of freedom from another, mostly due to the influence of politics, religion, and ethics. These factors can be observed from different points of views, for example, most of the Western population would not approve the treatment of women in the Middle East. In addition, there are still modern societies where freedom of speech is not permitted, and in some cases these violations are paid at a high price. There is a more romantic way of viewing freedom, to think of liberty and the things we are able to do with passion. For musicians, poets, writers, film-makers and painters, the thoughts of freedom are quite inspirational, and they often seek to capture that essence through their art. As mentioned before, freedom can be differently interpreted by each person. There are people that relate freedom to being a bird securely protected inside a cage. They have everything they need to survive, they like being protected from the pet cat, and they enjoy their spaces and doing whatever they feel like doing without being bothered. On the other hand, there are people that relate freedom to being a bird too, but the cage door is opened for them to get out. These people see freedom as flying through the skies, and to being exposed to risks like the cat’s claw or the strong breeze. Both types of people see freedom in different ways but have the common goal of satisfying their needs and uneasiness. If there is anything I know about human behavior is that it is impossible for people to share all personality traits with everyone else, therefore, freedom should be whatever a person chooses it to be, and this person should know if there is a lack of freedom in his/her life.
What is freedom? Wow that is a loaded question. My belief in freedom has to do with being free. I am not going to take this opportunity to discuss freedom in our country and freedom in other countries because I don’t think that is what you are asking. However if it is….well… Freedom to me is being free from all things that restrain a person. Being free from agendas, or anxiety or personal responsibility would be a ridiculous statement. In a person’s life we are told that we are free to think how we choose. Now all people know that this isn’t true. We are socially bound by our life choices. A teacher for instance might believe that they are free to teach a class a certain way. But that is definitely wrong. A teacher is bound by what the school and a district office curriculum wants them to teach. And this teacher might believe that their ideas that they have about using this “free to teach” choice is one in which they created. Truth be told, the thoughts that they even have, came from somewhere, their culture or society. So these were not free thoughts to begin with. I believe that the word “freedom” is used just to make people feel comfortable like they are making their own decisions. B.F. Skinner makes some very good point regarding freedom. Skinner talks about freedom in a determinist point of view, saying that it should be used in “controlling human behavior and changing it for the better.” As in my earlier paragraphs my belief is that democracy even is used as a “freedom” tool. Skinner says that “Scientists can and should be given the power to “engineer” human behavior in accordance with an agreed-upon set of ideals (social harmony, individual happiness, and productivity.) So let’s say that you live in a nice neighborhood. Well one day you come home from work to find that your neighbor, who leaves their door unlocked, has been brutally beaten. So now, you are free to continue to leave your door unlocked. And because you are free, by golly you should leave your door unlocked. However, sensibly you are probably going to start locking your door to stop this from happening to you. So now society has put rules on your freedom by kind of making you a prisoner to safety. So your belief system that you are free is actually controlled by society. My other thought having to do with Skinner’s scientist point is that I do believe the media acts as that scientist to control our thoughts, almost as if they are engineers of behavior, “disguised control.” So I really don’t think there is a thing as “freedom.” There might be a definition and there might be people that believe something to the fact of freedom, but I don’t think there is a such thing as “freedom.” So what is freedom, well it is just a word to soften the blow.
I think freedom is the ability to make your own decisions. To be able to think for myself in any given situation. I would be in control of my happiness. I have the freedom to help someone if I'd like. Other examples of freedom is having a peace of mind. To be able to able to know I am going to have to think about working because I feel like going out of town or to the movies. Freedom allows people to choose not inflect or have pain mentally or physically. To be free is to be able to walk out the door not getting dressed nicely. Being able to get on any types of clothes I would like for that day. I can get married to anyone I would like to not based on their economic status. I can have a child whenever I want at whatever age I choose. My type of freedom would be able to not worry. For example, not worrying about bills. Freedom to live good and get medical insurance. I think freedom is a great feeling, but most people rarely get to experience it.
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Position Paper #10 What Precisely is Freedom?
Freedom means different things to different people. It can be understood in the negative sense that a person is free from restraints. It can also be understood in the positive context of being free to exercise a choice among many options. It is difficult to precisely define freedom, because there are so many applications. The core principle undergirding Freedom is being able to have the option of doing something other than what you did.1
As outlined in class the Determinist would say that events have causes and that we have no freedom to choose because it is predetermined due to the causal event. While this may apply in mathematics and to a degree in the science realm, when it comes to human behavior, this theory is very debatable. When given a set of circumstances, a person may choose several different actions. For example; What would you do if someone exercised their freedom of speech and insulted you? You could respond in like manner, you could ponder what would be the reason for the insult and deal with them in that context, you could walk away or many other choices to the “causal” event. Freedom is the ability to act on a choice when there are many other choices available. With this definition of Freedom, there is not much room for “Hard” Determinism.
“Compatibilism is the idea that we have free will even if Determinisim is true.”1 Compatibilism supports the concept of Freedom as being able to make choices from many different options. While Libertarianism supports the concept of alternative choices, it does not make allowances for any causal events to effect behavior. Compatibilism, also known as “Soft” Determinism brings the focus more on the individual and the fact that their self-determination is the cause of their behavior. 2
The Freedom to choose your course of action in any given set of circumstances is limited only by your own constraints of voluntariness. Because this is an internal choice, this self-imposed constraint would still be considered an act of Freedom. There is always a price for Freedom in the context of responsibility. Some people would say that one can only be “free” when there are no restraints on behavior, but this exercise in freedom with no restraints would lead to anarchy and a breach to other people’s freedom. True freedom is being free to act on a choice that you make, believing that it is the best choice of many options.
Works Cited:
1. http://www.philosophytalk.org/pastShows/FreeWill.htm
2. Class Lecture, Phi. 101 Devin Martin
Position Paper #10
What is Freedom?
What is freedom? That would depend on whom you ask. Some people believe that there is no freedom, that everything in your life is premeditated, and that you have no choices whatsoever. I happen to agree to an extent. I know that certain things that make up your physical self are predetermined due to your biological make up, or the DNA and traits you inherit from your parents. Those types of things you can not control…like your eye color or skin color. There is no freedom for choice there. However, for other things in your life, I lean more toward the libertarian point of view. Sure there may be some underlying obstacles in your biology that make you more prone to behavioral issues like alcoholism and drug addiction, but if a drug addict can chose to give up drugs and stay clean, or an alcoholic can chose sobriety and not drink, that then proves that your actions are a direct result of the choices you make. On that note, I also believe that a person should be held accountable for their actions if that person makes bad choices in their lives.
Freedom are the choices that we all make in our everyday lives. We may not be able to choose the life that we were born into, but I do feel we have the freedom to live the life that we want. I also believe that the meaning of freedom has the capability of changing as the years go on. For instance, we can’t control the genes that are passed down from us that may influence our decisions, but with modern technology advancing we may start to have the freedom to change our genetic makeup. If we are unhappy with the way we look, people can have plastic surgery to change their appearance. There have been studies on finding the gene that causes substance abuse, and if they were to locate it we may be able to fix it. I only see our biology making up about five percent of who we are anyways, and that the rest is learned behavior. If a person has a bad habit they have the freedom to change that behavior by retraining the way they think. I would consider myself to be a “soft” determinist, because I do feel that the way we grow up does cause how we behave. However, if we are unhappy with the those attributes we can make an effort to change them; it mostly depends on that person. I believe this is why we can see siblings who were brought up the same way lead different paths. Freedom is an individualistic journey, for instance, my views of it allow me the freedom to live the way that I want and for others they may not feel they ever had the freedom to be anything else. We may not be able to control the world around us, but we do have the freedom to choose how it will effect us.
In my opinion freedom is a right that we earn. Freedom is different to many people in many places. In this country, we are free to a certain extent. The fact that our thoughts are not controlled gives us a somewhat freedom. But we can only act to a certain point. If we cross the line by breaking the law, the our freedom can be taken away. We have the freedom to express ourselves but then again we are limited to what we can say or do. The way we dress, or the school we choose to go to gives us our freedom. We all have the right to do things, but we cant go past the limit. We are free to try new things, and not follow a specific way of living.
What is freedom? I believe that there are many types of freedom and you can’t define freedom without talking a bit about all of them. There are political freedoms that we, Americas, believe are very important and there is individual freedom that every human being should have and value.
Political freedoms include the rights protected by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, like free speech and religious choice. They also include the right to vote and the right to work in any career that interests one. Although political freedom is a very important type of freedom, it is not as important to our idea of “free will” as individual choice.
As far as the individual is concerned, freedom is the ability to choose or to act without concerns or forces outside of one effecting said choice or action. If one has individual freedom, one is solely responsible for all of their actions and decisions.
Since I believe in personal freedom and responsibility I can’t help but to disagree with determinism and people that argue for it. Determinists believe that every event has a cause or causes including all human actions and choices. They would argue that even if you feel like you chose something or did something of your own “free will” there was some event in your prior history or some natural law that caused you to act or choose the way that you did.
Although I believe that one can determine a cause for some events, I don’t believe that human actions or choices are usually caused. If human actions and decisions were not free we could not break bad habits or cycles of negative behavior. For example, I know a man that was beaten as a child as was his father, grandfather and great grandfather before him. When that man had a son of his own he made up his mind that he would never beat his son. That man’s son is almost 22 years old and he has never received a beating from his father. There are times when that man wonders if he has done his son a disservice by never spanking him but he feels like he was very successful in breaking the negative cycle of abuse in his family.
If our behavior is determined solely by circumstance, society and the past wouldn’t every poor, neglected and abused person have the same fate? By the same token wouldn’t every person that came from a loving home where his or her every need was met, become a productive member of society? The truth is, some people rise above circumstances, surpass what is expected of them and become someone great while others sink way below their place in society and become someone they never would have imagined. I believe people arrive where they are in their life by the sum of all their choices and should claim responsibility for where ever that may be. That is freedom.
Works Cited:
Solomon, Robert C. Introducing Philosophy a Text with Integrated Readings. New York: Oxford UP, 2008. Print
Martin, Suzanne. “Class Lecture” Gateway Community College, Phoenix.9 April.2009. Lecture
Freedom is the ability to act as you see fit as long as you are not impeding on others ability to enjoy their freedom. Freedom must be used responsibly though in that you may be free to murder another (I say this facetiously of course) but by the same token you are also free to be imprisoned for the rest of your life for doing so. Freedom involves not being told what to do, how to do it and when to do it.
Freedom is the opposite of confinement. Prison is an antithesis of being free. Although, one can be free in a different sense while incarcerated. Prison is a locking away of the body from society. As long as a prisoner holds on to what is good inside his soul and inside his brain, he may still remain free while locked up.
People view freedom differently and freedom as an idea is completely contrary depending on who it is that you speak with. Some think that money is the key to freedom, or at least the key to unlock the door. Some feel that traveling the globe, gaining life experience and meeting new people is the essence of being free. You have those who feel purely free making a sandwich on a Saturday afternoon and not having to go to work that day and those who don’t consider themselves free unless they’ve achieved certain goals they’ve set forth in life. My father was one who had hopes that moving to the country of Oregon from the hectic city life of California would garner his family more freedom. These and others are varying ideas of freedom.
In the United States I believe we often have the illusion of freedom. We are surely a lot freer than say, women in Afghanistan or laborers in China; however, I like to look at juxtapositions as illustration of what I mean. For instance, when it comes right down to the wire, you get to pick from TWO (almost exclusively older white men) candidates to serve in arguably the most important job in the world, but when you plop down on the sofa to watch some television you have HUNDREDS of choices of channels to turn to. Now, which is more important, picking the correct president or channel? I think the former carries quite a bit more importance and weight. We are conditioned though that it is better to choose from the black and the white on either side rather than the gray area in between.
Another example is the speed cameras and red light cameras all throughout the valley. Now, as a citizen I would have never voted for cameras to be set up in highly populated areas but that was a matter I had no choice in. Every day, I must drive past them and mind the activity very carefully around the cameras (especially because of everyone else around me and their reactions to the cameras). I would argue that these cameras are a cause of accidents and many more near misses. This is contrary to what we were told, that these cameras are present to increase public safety. Now, if you as a rich person want to outline your property with cameras, that you are free to do. But in a public space such as the freeway or an intersection I think that is something that should be on a ballot. If we are all co-existing in the same space, how are you free to erect cameras to watch me just because you think it will help? It doesn’t matter if case studies showed that installing cameras made an area safer by 75%. I still think I and every other voter should have the freedom of choice in the matter.
I could probably write my 10 page argument paper on this idea of the illusion of freedom and choice.
It is important that one has the utmost freedom connected to his/her existence. I find that when I explore the world within the freedom I have, I learn a great many things. My eyes open up to new ideas and possibilities that freedom has allowed me to be exposed to. Such things as being free to be creative and paint has taken me to different places and cities, allowed me to meet many new people-many of whom later became good friends, and learned about people and places that I might not otherwise have been around. Also, just the activity and freedom of learning about how to paint and improving the techniques required teach me new things about the process and myself. In short, the act of painting and expressing myself leads me down new paths of exploration on a continuous basis. Go freedom.
Freedom is different to everyone, but freedom is when people make decisions of their own. Many people have trouble answering if we have freedom or not, I believe that we do in some amount. Several individuals will say that we don’t have freedom because the government has control over it. Although the government has many laws and sometimes we think some of them are not beneficial, they protect our lives. If someone were to say that they had all the freedom in the world and they decided to kill someone and we didn’t have any laws, there would be few people in this world right now. We still decide how we want to react to certain things, how to dress and eat or who we want to be friends with. When someone starts deciding those things then that’s when we don’t have freedom anymore. There are people in jail because they have committed crimes, but they all have different excuses why they are there. Some grew up in poor, normal or rich neighborhoods, but they had their own freedom to decide if they were going to commit that crime. They could have decided to overcome their obstacles and decide not to do it. Everyone has their freedom and that’s why there are people in prison, others who are working in the career they chose, some going to school to get a better life or others enjoying their spare time. Although there are millions of answers to what is freedom, to me freedom are the choices that someone decides to make.
Freedom has a unique meaning for each person. By definition alone, to be free is to be autonomous, to do as one pleases, of course, this involves certain restrictions. The idea of freedom goes way back to our ancestors. Historically, for thousands of years humans have repeatedly battled to gain their freedom (their birth-right) from tyranny. Every modern country in the world has experienced war (either for power or freedom), and every nation in the world has an independence holiday that commemorates the acquisition of their freedom. Every society has a different concept of freedom from another, mostly due to the influence of politics, religion, and ethics. These factors can be observed from different points of views, for example, most of the Western population would not approve the treatment of women in the Middle East. In addition, there are still modern societies where freedom of speech is not permitted, and in some cases these violations are paid at a high price.
There is a more romantic way of viewing freedom, to think of liberty and the things we are able to do with passion. For musicians, poets, writers, film-makers and painters, the thoughts of freedom are quite inspirational, and they often seek to capture that essence through their art. As mentioned before, freedom can be differently interpreted by each person. There are people that relate freedom to being a bird securely protected inside a cage. They have everything they need to survive, they like being protected from the pet cat, and they enjoy their spaces and doing whatever they feel like doing without being bothered. On the other hand, there are people that relate freedom to being a bird too, but the cage door is opened for them to get out. These people see freedom as flying through the skies, and to being exposed to risks like the cat’s claw or the strong breeze. Both types of people see freedom in different ways but have the common goal of satisfying their needs and uneasiness. If there is anything I know about human behavior is that it is impossible for people to share all personality traits with everyone else, therefore, freedom should be whatever a person chooses it to be, and this person should know if there is a lack of freedom in his/her life.
What is freedom? Wow that is a loaded question.
My belief in freedom has to do with being free. I am not going to take this opportunity to discuss freedom in our country and freedom in other countries because I don’t think that is what you are asking. However if it is….well…
Freedom to me is being free from all things that restrain a person. Being free from agendas, or anxiety or personal responsibility would be a ridiculous statement.
In a person’s life we are told that we are free to think how we choose. Now all people know that this isn’t true. We are socially bound by our life choices. A teacher for instance might believe that they are free to teach a class a certain way. But that is definitely wrong. A teacher is bound by what the school and a district office curriculum wants them to teach. And this teacher might believe that their ideas that they have about using this “free to teach” choice is one in which they created. Truth be told, the thoughts that they even have, came from somewhere, their culture or society. So these were not free thoughts to begin with.
I believe that the word “freedom” is used just to make people feel comfortable like they are making their own decisions.
B.F. Skinner makes some very good point regarding freedom. Skinner talks about freedom in a determinist point of view, saying that it should be used in “controlling human behavior and changing it for the better.”
As in my earlier paragraphs my belief is that democracy even is used as a “freedom” tool. Skinner says that “Scientists can and should be given the power to “engineer” human behavior in accordance with an agreed-upon set of ideals (social harmony, individual happiness, and productivity.)
So let’s say that you live in a nice neighborhood. Well one day you come home from work to find that your neighbor, who leaves their door unlocked, has been brutally beaten. So now, you are free to continue to leave your door unlocked. And because you are free, by golly you should leave your door unlocked. However, sensibly you are probably going to start locking your door to stop this from happening to you.
So now society has put rules on your freedom by kind of making you a prisoner to safety. So your belief system that you are free is actually controlled by society.
My other thought having to do with Skinner’s scientist point is that I do believe the media acts as that scientist to control our thoughts, almost as if they are engineers of behavior, “disguised control.”
So I really don’t think there is a thing as “freedom.” There might be a definition and there might be people that believe something to the fact of freedom, but I don’t think there is a such thing as “freedom.”
So what is freedom, well it is just a word to soften the blow.
I think freedom is the ability to make your own decisions. To be able to think for myself in any given situation. I would be in control of my happiness. I have the freedom to help someone if I'd like. Other examples of freedom is having a peace of mind. To be able to able to know I am going to have to think about working because I feel like going out of town or to the movies. Freedom allows people to choose not inflect or have pain mentally or physically. To be free is to be able to walk out the door not getting dressed nicely. Being able to get on any types of clothes I would like for that day. I can get married to anyone I would like to not based on their economic status. I can have a child whenever I want at whatever age I choose. My type of freedom would be able to not worry. For example, not worrying about bills. Freedom to live good and get medical insurance. I think freedom is a great feeling, but most people rarely get to experience it.
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