Economics Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Freedom: Freedom is the ability to live one's life without constraints, according to one's own values and beliefs. See also Liberty, Community, State, Governance, Society, Individuals, Democracy._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Republicanism on Freedom - Dictionary of Arguments
Gaus I 169 Freedom/Republicanism/Dagger: Self- governing citizens cannot be subject to absolute or arbitrary rule, whether it proceeds from external or internal forces. If the citizen is to be self-governing, that is, he or she must be free from the absolute or arbitrary rule of others, which means that citizens must be subject to the rule of law - the government or empire of laws, not of men, according to the old formula.* As with publicity, the republican commitment to self-government leads to characteristic republican themes, such as concern for freedom, equality, and, again, civic virtue. Self-government is, of course, a form of freedom. For republicans, it is the most important form, for other kinds of individual freedom are secure only in a free state, under law. Freedom thus requires dependence upon the law so that citizens may be independent of the arbitrary will of others. >Constitution/Republicanism, >Law/Republicanism, >Rule of Law/Republicanism. Gaus I 170 Constitution: Without citizens who are willing to defend the republic against foreign threats and to take an active part in government, even the mixed constitution will fail. Republics must thus engage in what Michael Sandel calls 'a formative politics that cultivates in citizens the qualities of character that self-government requires' (1996(1): 6). Constitutional safeguards may be necessary to resist avarice, ambition, luxury, idleness, and other forms of corruption, but they will not be enough to sustain freedom under the rule of law. Gaus I 174 Freedom/equality/republicanism/Dagger: The connection of political equality to (...) freedom as self-government, is a close one. Both involve what Philip Pettit calls 'the frankness of intersubjective equality' (1997(2):64). On the republican view, as we have seen, freedom is not so much a matter of being left alone as it is of living under the rule of laws that one has a voice in making. Republicans differ from liberals in this regard, according to Pettit, because 'the supreme political value' (1997(2): 80) of republicanism is freedom understood not as non-interference — the liberal view - but as non-domination or, in Skinner's terms, 'absence of dependence' (2002(3): 18). *Historians (Wirszubski, 1960(4): 9; Skinner, 1998(5): 45) trace this formula to the Roman writers Sallust, Livy, and Cicero. 1. Sandel, Michael ( 1996) Democracy 's Discontent: America in Search of a Public Philosophy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. 2. Pettit, Philip (1997) Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and Government. Oxford: Clarendon. 3. Skinner, Quentin (2002) 'A third concept of liberty'. London Review of Books, 4 April: 16—18. 4. Wirszubski, Ch. (1960) Libertas as a Political Idea at Rome during the Late Republic and Early Principate. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 5. Skinner, Quentin (1998) Liberty before Liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Dagger, Richard 2004. „Communitarianism and Republicanism“. In: Gaus, Gerald F. & Kukathas, Chandran 2004. Handbook of Political Theory. SAGE Publications_____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Republicanism Gaus I Gerald F. Gaus Chandran Kukathas Handbook of Political Theory London 2004 |
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