Negative and positive liberty
Concept · Isaiah Berlin · Politics, stage 1: Learn the vocabulary
Negative liberty is freedom from interference: you are free to the extent that nobody is stopping you. Positive liberty is freedom to act on your own purposes: you are free to the extent that you actually have the capacities, resources and self-command to direct your own life. Isaiah Berlin's 1958 lecture Two Concepts of Liberty made the distinction standard and argued that the positive sense can be turned into a justification for coercing people in the name of their own real interests. Republican writers add a third sense, freedom as non-domination, meaning not being subject to another's arbitrary power even when that power is never actually used.
Why it matters
Most disputes over taxation, welfare, employment law and regulation are disputes over which sense of freedom is the one that counts.
Part of
Negative and positive liberty in the glossary
Sources
- Positive and Negative Liberty Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Negative liberty Wikipedia
- Positive liberty Wikipedia
