Freedom for sale
Whether we do so voluntarily or not, whether we even realize it, we constantly trade our freedom. Do we buy and sell it at the right price?
Most people appreciate freedom, perhaps as one of the most valuable goods we possess. Few would choose to live as a slave, or under an authoritarian regime that severely restricts individual freedoms. And yet, we frequently give up freedoms for legal, social or moral reasons, sometimes even happily so. Admittedly, we know and feel that freedom has intrinsic value, but measuring it is challenging. That makes trading freedom hard, and the associated trade-offs are harder, the more we desire and value a particular freedom. How can we make sure we attribute the correct value to our (and others’!) freedom?
Close to our heart
The notion of freedom is closely linked with values and aspirations that are common across humanity, such as autonomy and self-determination, or dignity and self-worth (and ensuing from this, psychological well-being). The former tend to relate to what Isaiah Berlin calls “ freedom to”, being free to act (or refrain from acting) and shape our lives according to our wishes; the latter to “freedom from”, the right not to be harmed or inconvenienced by others’ the actions (or inaction).
