Some Aspects of the History of Freedom

Abstract

The word “freedom” has two characteristics which ought not to be overlooked. The first is that it is incompletely descriptive: to be told that someone is free is to be told something that is less than fully intelligible. Is he free from captivity, from debt, from social engagements, from duties, from the marriage tie? The possibilities are innumerable. There are so many different situations, and different kinds of situation, which can “bind” a man. Thus we need to know of a man who is said to be free, what he is free from, or, alternatively, what he is free to do: that he is free to emigrate, for example, or to marry or to dispose of certain property or to accept a social invitation. In any case we need more information.