POL S 1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Stoicism, Totalitarianism, Group Action
Document Summary
What is necessary for true freedom? a. b. c. Ultimately, arendt believes early stoics and christians had the best idea of freedom. a. b. 143 - "contradiction between our consciousness and conscience" The idea that you dictate your own actions. Freedom is not simply a matter of individual will. If it was, then we would lose what"s valuable about freedom. We wouldn"t value freedom if it was easy to get. You have to have some understanding of interaction, communication, and public space to grasp freedom. "inner freedom concerns itself with a retreat from the world" Outer freedom = existing in public, engaging in community. Inner freedom becomes important because external freedom moves to no longer being possible. Without knowing the value of external freedom, we wouldn"t be able to value inner freedom. Real freedom happens when we interact with others. Freedom only occurs when we can act freely with one another in an open community.
