Isaiah Berlin on positive and negative freedom

2019 ◽  
pp. 13-45
Author(s):  
Hans Blokland
Keyword(s):  
Negative Freedom ◽  
Isaiah Berlin

Freedom in mass values: egocentric, humanistic, or both? Using Isaiah Berlin to understand a contemporary debate

2011 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gina Gustavsson
Keyword(s):  
Negative Freedom ◽  
Isaiah Berlin ◽  
Contemporary Debate ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Negative Liberty ◽  
Confirmatory Factor ◽  
Positive Liberty ◽  
The Common

Does an increasing emphasis on individual freedom in mass values erode or revitalize democratic societies? This paper offers a new approach to this debate by examining it through the lens of Isaiah Berlin, and his distinction between positive and negative freedom. I show that, contrary to the common assumption among scholars who study mass values regarding freedom, these do not consist of one dimension but two: negative and positive freedom. I also show that, while valuing negative liberty clearly leads a person to become more morally permissive and more condoning of non-compliance with legal norms, valuing positive liberty does not seem to have the same effects at all; in fact, it shows the very opposite relationship with respect to some of these attitudes. Thus, it matters what kind of freedom people value. The results rely on confirmatory factor and regression analyses on World Values Survey data from ten affluent Western countries in 2005–2006.

Isaiah Berlin’s Challenge to the Zhuangzian Freedom

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (5) ◽  
pp. 69-92
Author(s):  
Tao Jiang
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Personal Space ◽  
Negative Freedom ◽  
Isaiah Berlin ◽  
Chinese Tradition ◽  
Positive Freedom ◽  
Collective Orientation ◽  
Liberal Tradition ◽  
Spiritual Freedom

Isaiah Berlin is known for articulating two competing notions of freedom operative within the modern Western political philosophy, negative and positive. He provides a powerful defense of modern liberal tradition that elevates negative freedom in its attempt to preserve personal space for one’s actions and choices while regarding positive freedom as suppressive due to its potentially collective orientation. This article uses Berlin as an interlocutor to challenge Zhuangzi, known for his portrayal of spiritual freedom in the Chinese tradition, prodding modern Zhuangzians to bring the Zhuangzian spiritual freedom into the sociopolitical arena by reimagining new possibilities about politics.

scholarly journals Análise dos Objetivos Fundamentais da República Federativa do Brasil à Luz do Estudos de Isaiah Berlin / An Analysis of the Basic Goals of the Federative Republic of Brazil in Light of Isaiah Berlin's Studies

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos Antônio Striquer Soares ◽  
Tiago Brene
Keyword(s):  
Political Theory ◽  
The Political ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Negative Freedom ◽  
Isaiah Berlin ◽  
Positive Freedom ◽  
Federal Constitution ◽  
The Face ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Ethical Virtues

Resumo:Revisita a teoria política de Isaiah Berlin, em especial a partir do ensaio Dois Conceitos de Liberdade. Expõe as principais características e distinções entre liberdade negativa e liberdade positiva segundo o entendimento de Berlin. Posteriormente, ressalta a diferença que o autor faz entre liberdades negativas e positivas com o conceito de Condição de Liberdade. Analisa a Constituição da República Federativa do Brasil – CRFB-88, à luz da teoria política de Berlin em dois pontos: (i) os objetivos da CRFB-88 revelam valores de liberdades negativa e positiva; (ii) Direito sociais podem ser interpretados à luz da teoria de Berlin como sendo Condição de Liberdade. Problematiza a teoria berliana em face da CRFB-88, ponderando sobre os riscos de ser interpretar os Direitos Sociais como sendo os próprios objetivos do Estado. Por fim, expõe a preocupação de Isaiah Berlin de que valores éticos de justiça e solidariedade, correlatos da Liberdade Positiva, enquanto fonte de justificação política, se corrompam em ideologias despóticas, seja por postura paternalista, seja pela tirania.Palavras-chave: Isaiah Berlin; Liberdade Negativa; Liberdade Positiva; Constituição Federal. Abstract:Revisit the political theory of Isaiah Berlin, especially from the essay Two Concepts of Liberty. Explain the main characteristic and differences between negative freedom and positive freedom according to the understanding of Berlin. Subsequently rebound the difference that the author makes between positive and negative liberties with the concept of Freedom of Condition. Analyzes the Constitution of Federative Republic of Brazil - CRFB-88 in light of the political theory of Berlin in two points: (i) the objectives of CRFB-88 reveal virtue of negative and positive freedoms, (ii) social rights can be interpreted to light of the theory of Berlin as Condition of Freedom. Discusses the theory in the face of berliana CRFB-88, pondering the risks to be interpreting social rights as the state's own goals. Finally exposes the concern of Isaiah Berlin that ethical virtues of justice and solidarity, correlates of Positive Freedom, as a source of political justification, if corrupt despotic ideologies, whether by paternalistic stance, is tyranny.Keywords: Isaiah Berlin; Negative Freedom; Positive Freedom; Federal Constitution.

scholarly journals Trayectorias hacia la libertad individual: el uso de la ironía en la novela El héroe discreto de Mario Vargas Llosa.

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 10
Author(s):  
Vigdis Ahnfelt
Keyword(s):  
Spiritual Development ◽  
Economic Freedom ◽  
Mario Vargas Llosa ◽  
The Novel ◽  
Individual Freedom ◽  
Cultural Groups ◽  
Individual Values ◽  
Negative Freedom ◽  
Isaiah Berlin ◽  
Positive Freedom

The present study examines the spiritual development of the main characters in the novel The Discreet Hero (2013) by Mario Vargas Llosa, and the aim is to show how irony provides the reader with reflections upon the meaning of individual freedom. The hypothesis suggests that the characters, representing different social and cultural groups of today’s Peruvian society, try to free themselves from surrounding threats and thereby obtain what Isaiah Berlin (1971) terms negative or positive freedom. The analysis focuses on narrative irony, which operates on three levels of the text: firstly, what it linguistically hides by telling something different, secondly, the discrepancy that emerges between narration and what lies underneath and thirdly, the dialectic ideas that impregnate the text and transmit the ambiguity of the work (Tittler 1984). Ethical irony, according to which the characters of narrative are incoherent figures that pursue coherence (Handwerk 1985), is also included. The study shows that irony problematizes in what ways the characters perceive individual freedom. All of them experience negative freedom, which emerges when authorities fail in their support and protection of the citizens despite political and economic freedom. In order to obtain positive freedom, individual ethical and social responsibility, knowledge of self and cultural refinement are essential. Through irony, it becomes clear that positive freedom depends on a democratic society and individual values.

Depressions Plural

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
K W M (Bill) Fulford ◽  
David Crepaz-Keay ◽  
Giovanni Stanghellini
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Personal Values ◽  
The Political ◽  
Medical Law ◽  
Isaiah Berlin ◽  
Political Philosopher

This chapter examines how values influence the heterogeneity of depression. The plurality of values is increasingly significant for contemporary person-centred mental health care with its emphasis on quality of life and development of self-manvnagement skills. Values-based practice is a partner with medical law invn working with the plurality of personal values. The chapter explains what values are, shows how the plurality of values influences the heterogeneity of depression at several levels, and provides an overview of values-based practice. It looks at the resources available for combining values-based practice with medical law in contemporary person-centred care and indicates some of the challenges this raises. It concludes with a brief reflection on these challenges understood as an instance of what the political philosopher Isaiah Berlin called the challenge of pluralism.

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