Freedom is the power or right to act, speak or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint. People in jail often long for freedom, as do those under a despotic government. In the United States, people have “freedom of speech,” which allows them to express their opinions without governmental interference (although this doesn’t extend to expression that defames, causes panic, incites rioting, creates fighting words, incites to sedition or is obscene). In addition to this freedom, there are many other types of freedoms, such as freedom of religion and freedom of the press.
The concept of freedom appears in Kant’s writings, including the Critique of Pure Reason, the Critique of Practical Reason and the Critique of Judgment. In all of these works, freedom is used in a varying number of different ways.
For example, in the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant sees freedom as a transcendental idea that is independent of the necessity of being a physical object, and in the Critique of Practical Reason, he uses it to define an objective moral law.
In the Critique of Judgment, he defines freedom in terms of liberation from the arbitrariness of one’s drives through sensuality and a sense of freedom that grounds a factum of moral law. Freedom is also seen as an absence of necessity and constraint in choice or action, and freedom from slavery or from the power of another.
As a result of these different uses, freedom has numerous definitions. It is most commonly defined as the ability to do what one desires without interference from others, but taken too far, this can be dangerous to society. In addition to this definition, freedom is a necessary component of self-fulfillment and the pursuit of happiness.
The word comes from the Latin frein, meaning “to love.” It is a quality that everyone should be able to enjoy, especially those in prison or under a tyrannical regime. In addition, freedom is a crucial ingredient in the success of a democracy.
For example, it is essential to the process of enfranchisement, which allows citizens to vote, run for office, and participate in a representative democracy. Freedom is a fundamental human right and should be respected by all nations and individuals.
To illustrate the concept of freedom, many teachers use a visual aid called a fence chart. It consists of a dot representing an individual and a closed line immediately around the dot to represent a limit on freedom. Each time an individual gains a new freedom, it forces the fence to back away from the dot. This adds a bulge of the new freedom to the area enclosed about the dot, and the more skills gained, the larger the bulge. For example, if someone learns to play the violin, this can cause the bulge of their freedom to expand in a violin-shaped fashion. This is a good way to show students that the more freedoms acquired, the more prosperous and happy a person will be.