| ID | 099886 |
| Title Proper | Four conceptions of freedom |
| Language | ENG |
| Author | Spector, Horacio |
| Publication | 2010. |
| Summary / Abstract (Note) | Contemporary political philosophers discuss the idea of freedom in terms of two distinctions: Berlin's famous distinction between negative and positive liberty, and Skinner and Pettit's divide between liberal and republican liberty. In this essay I proceed to recast the debate by showing that there are two strands in liberalism, Hobbesian and Lockean, and that the latter inherited its conception of civil liberty from republican thought. I also argue that the contemporary debate on freedom lacks a perspicuous account of the various conceptions of freedom, mainly because it leaves aside the classic contrast between natural liberty and civil liberty. Once we consider both the negative/positive distinction and the natural/civil one, we can classify all conceptions of freedom within four basic irreducible categories. In light of the resulting framework I show that there are two distinct conceptions of republican liberty, natural and civil, and that the former is coupled with an ideal of individual self-control. |
| `In' analytical Note | Political Theory Vol. 38, No. 6; Dec 2010: p.780-808 |
| Journal Source | Political Theory Vol. 38, No. 6; Dec 2010: p.780-808 |
| Key Words | Freedom ; Liberty ; Republicanism ; Liberalism |