PHIL 2150 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Paternalism, Positive Liberty, Negative Liberty

• School: Trent University
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHIL 2150
• Professor: Kyle Johannsen

Document Summary

In his discussion of freedom mill specifically has negative freedom in mind, i. e. , the absence of interference. Isaiah be(cid:396)li(cid:374) a(cid:396)gues that the(cid:396)e"s a fu(cid:396)the(cid:396) so(cid:396)t of f(cid:396)eedo(cid:373) asso(cid:272)iated (cid:449)ith the idea of self- mastery. You can have one of these types of freedoms but lack the other. Democracy can perhaps be understood as a means of realizing a collective form of positive freedom: people are exercising positive freedom that involves restrictions of negative freedoms for the sake of society. The upshot is that state needs to do more than just respect negative freedom and prevent harm. Berlin, however, worries that protecting positive freedom could lead to a particularly insidious form of paternalism: we can distinct between people actual preference and autonomous preferences (ones that are fully informed) Isaiah be(cid:396)li(cid:374) a(cid:396)gues that, i(cid:374) additio(cid:374) to (cid:374)egati(cid:448)e f(cid:396)eedo(cid:373), the(cid:396)e"s a fu(cid:396)the(cid:396) so(cid:396)t of f(cid:396)eedo(cid:373) associated with the idea of self-mastery. He calls this positive freedom: self-control; not a slave to your passions.