Freedom !!
Looking at what’s happening now in this world, I think the word lost its meaning.
Freedom !!
Looking at what’s happening now in this world, I think the word lost its meaning.
The way I look at it is "Freedom" is what ever you make it to be.
That is to say that "Freedom" is dependent solely on your individual opinion/personality.
The meaning "Freedom" has to me is knowing my "happiness", "respect", "love", "hate", "perspective" ect.. is 100% my own and effected by how I judge it.
I don't deny that any one of those states of mind/emotions can all be conditioned by external factors, however, no one will know exactly what I'm thinking or how I will react to certain adverse situations.
You can take an educated guess if you observe me long enough but you'll never know.
Thats my personal freedom.
This may sound quite introverted and a anti-social but thats not how I'm trying to come across.
Its just I find that the quality of freedom is defined internally and no matter what external factors you come across, you will never be truly free unless you are rigid and strong from within.
That is my opinion of freedom, hope that it helps.
P.S. I'll clarify myself if this is hard to understand, just give me a shout.
Last edited by Derwind; 01-11-2011 at 04:23 PM.
Hi,
The only totally free thing is nothing; it is impossible for a thing to be totally free, in a strict sense. For a thing to be totally free of all constraints would render it free from its own properties, and thus non-existent. Therefore a thing that possesses total freedom, or metaphysical libertarianism is an incoherency and a logical (and even conceptual) impossibility. Insofar as a thing's behavior is necessitated by the properties that constitute it, everything must be subject to some degree of determinism; for those truly probabilistic events (if such events exist) the behavior of the object(s) involved are determined by randomness.
Freedom can be defined as a lack of constraints. With the aforementioned, we can deduce that something can only be free with respect to something else. For example, a will can be free to do what it wants, yet it can never be free from itself, i.e. its own values and desires.
One interpretation of the question "is there absolute freedom in our world" posited by the OP is: "can one have absolute freedom with respect to society?" And the answer is probably yes: imagine one who lives by themselves, totally independently, in a cabin somewhere in the woods. Most people do not want to live like that, however. And there is an observation to be made; that when someone does so choose to live independently from society, he looses all the conveniences society had offered (such as tap water), which actually granted him certain freedoms that he would not otherwise possess.
Things are substantially better than they were 70 years ago. From a retrospective point of view, the now is pretty great!
I am finding this quite hard to understand. I don't see any merits in making freedom's definition arbitrary. One can associate freedom with happiness, etc. but surely not define it as such?
This is not so. I find external influences have no sway on "freedom" beyond the literal definition i.e. locked in a prison cell.
Happiness is a factor yes but I think "Freedom" has to involve how one is affected by external factors.
The person doesn't have to be a happy over there situation but they have right mental constitution to make the best of what they have and to not be affected by most any external factors.
This is what "freedom" means to me, though I'll admit I may be misguided or even naive but I like to think "freedom" is whatever I make of it.
Not freedom in the absolute literal sense i.e. Being locked in a cage and then find a way to escape, thus finding your freedom.
I think you may be right about freedom with freedom of thought, I personally find the most liberating freedom one could have. But more to the point, I think what I'm trying to get at is really just positive thinking. Taking the world with a glass half full approach, seems to me the only way to find truly attainable freedom.
Though I suppose that sounds like its approaching theism, I assure you I have no intention of guiding this discussion into a nattering of moral quandaries.
if there is no God than i m free. and if He exist i m not free.
i came to know He exist and found amazing that He gives freedom!! freedom of choice/.
its crystal clear i have to bear my choices results by myself.
Last edited by usman.khawar; 07-18-2011 at 06:20 AM.
Last edited by G L Wilson; 07-19-2011 at 06:12 PM.
A child can both fear and love his abusive parent(s).
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi
I worked for a foster care agency for many years (though not as a social worker), and yes, I'm sure. As the child grows and matures, the love may turn into other things, but a small child loves unconditionally. That's what makes child abuse probably the greatest form of betrayal.
You must be the change you wish to see in the world. -- Mahatma Gandhi