Reply
Mon 22 Dec, 2014 12:00 pm
Freedom assorted and sorted
The word Freedom has so many dictionary meanings it might better be several distinct words.
But its use as an ethical value would be sadly constrained if it were provided with an exact meaning at the outset.
It is better to simply express it as the opposite of tyranny and authority.
There are some who might define it as being able to do anything he wishes or believe in.
In that case anyone who is able to as he wills is absolutely free.
But the perversity of human nature is such that almost anything may be wished, believed in or willed. Even the unquestioning service of a master. And that is fairly useless ethically.
A person may be constrained by a master, By his own moral code. Or by his own self interest.
Buddhists might understand this.