📌 Definition
Freedom is the ability to act according to one’s own will, without being constrained by external forces. It can be physical, moral, political, or metaphysical.
⚖️ Types of Freedom
- Freedom of action – doing what one wants
- Political freedom – rights and liberties guaranteed by law
- Moral freedom – self-mastery and autonomy of the will
- Free will – the capacity to choose independently
📚 Key Philosophers and Quotations
➤ Descartes – Letter to Father Mesland (1645)
- 📌 “The freedom of our will is known to us without proof, by the mere experience we have of it.”
➡️ Defends free will as an obvious fact: we can choose freely between several options.
➤ Spinoza – Ethics
- 📌 “Men believe themselves to be free because they are conscious of their actions and ignorant of the causes by which they are determined.”
➡️ Denies free will: our actions are caused by external and internal forces, even if we are unaware of them.
➤ Rousseau – The Social Contract, Book I
- 📌 “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.”
➡️ Society limits natural freedom; true freedom is civil liberty governed by the general will. - 📌 “Obedience to a law one has prescribed to oneself is freedom.”
➡️ True freedom = political autonomy: obeying the law we collectively chose.
➤ Kant – Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
- 📌 “Freedom is the autonomy of the will.”
➡️ Being free means acting not by desire, but by a rational moral law. - 📌 “Act only according to that maxim whereby you can at the same time will that it should become a universal law.”
➡️ Freedom implies giving oneself moral rules one could wish for everyone.
➤ Sartre – Existentialism is a Humanism
- 📌 “Man is condemned to be free.”
➡️ We are entirely responsible for our actions: freedom is inescapable. - 📌 “Existence precedes essence.”
➡️ We are not born with a fixed nature: each person defines themselves by their choices.
🧩 Possible Essay Questions
- Is freedom an illusion?
- Can one be free while obeying laws?
- Does freedom require overcoming one’s desires?
- Is freedom compatible with responsibility?
- Are we free if we are conditioned by society or nature?
✅ Key Takeaways
- Some philosophers defend free will (Descartes, Rousseau, Kant, Sartre).
- Others argue that freedom is an illusion (Spinoza and determinism).
- Freedom can be internal (self-mastery), political (participation in law-making), or existential (creating oneself through choices).