What Does Liberty Mean
The freedom is an abstract concept difficult to define; in principle, it is linked to the faculty that every living being possesses to carry out an action according to its own will .
From the eighteenth century , freedom began to join other powers or virtues, such as justice and equality . This social change was accompanied by the development of new forms of organization of society and the emergence of hitherto unprecedented political regimes.
A free being is not bound to the will of others in a coercive way . Freedom guarantees respect for the individual will and implies that each one must take responsibility for their actions. Absolute freedom is known as debauchery , which inevitably leads to social lack of control .
For example: a person can make use of his freedom to create a business and obtain, through commercial activity, the resources that allow him to survive. That freedom, however, is limited by the Law, which prohibits you from selling products that do not meet a series of requirements and requires you to pay taxes. These impositions, needless to say, exceed the will of the subject; However, given the way in which human beings organize our lives, they do not threaten their freedom.
This reveals a very particular question: there is no absolute freedom. In this regard, there are various positions, but none that ensures the possibility of keeping our moral and ethical principles in force at the same time that we break through our invisible barriers and act with complete ease at every step. In those codes , invented by our species, resides the reason (for many irrefutable) of the limits of freedom.
Take for example three prohibitions that most of us think we understand, that we accept as fair and reasonable: we cannot take what belongs to others; we cannot have sexual relations with our parents or siblings; we cannot kill another human being. Robbery and murder are crimes punishable by the laws of each country, and incest can be seen in different ways, but the morality to which we respond in our culture tells us that it is something disgusting and unnatural, something that we would never do. .
We do not enjoy absolute freedom because we prefer the comfort that someone provides us with organizing our lives and protecting us. If a wolf tries to snatch a piece of meat from its leader, the leader will remind him why he occupies that position in the pack; On the other hand, human beings entrust this type of situation to a justice system , the same one that we criticize negatively when we do not need it.
Trying to contrast this idea of the limits of freedom, it can be thought that it does not include those issues mentioned above, since it does not accept in its definition any act that harms another living being or that crosses the walls of morality that each nation has created. raised for centuries. It is important to remember that freedom is not a concept that we share with the rest of the species on the planet, but rather it is our invention and, if we wish, we can ensure that we are all absolutely free.
The individual freedom , on the other hand, must be protected by the State . No person can restrict the freedom of others; otherwise, the competent authorities must act to punish the person responsible.
Another analysis of freedom is linked to psychological or metaphysical issues. The essence of freedom, in a way, can never be affected since it exists within every living being; no one can prevent another from thinking or feeling certain things.