NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
PDF on ERIC Download full text
ERIC Number: EJ1465480
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2020
Pages: 11
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: EISSN-2374-8257
Available Date: 0000-00-00
What Kind of Magnet Is Freedom?
Susan T. Gardner
Analytic Teaching and Philosophical Praxis, v40 n1 p60-70 2020
Freedom is a magnet. Ask any teen chomping at the bit under adult rules. Ask any entrepreneur entangled in endless government regulation. Ask any child in a war zone who longs for freedom from fear. This "will to freedom" is an appetitive stimulus for us all; a stimulus more foundational than the "will to power" (Nietzsche 1895/1992), which is merely instrumentally valuable for the pursuit of freedom. Freedom, however, is not a one-stop shop. One individual's freedom magnet might be freedom of action, another's freedom from judgement, another's freedom to participate, another's freedom from want, another's freedom from oppression, and another's freedom of sexual expression. Given that, on the surface, this looks like a mass love affair with freedom, it is critical to see that this magnet can also do great harm. The pull of such a magnet might render a person cynically impotent in the face of what seems to be an ever-receding target. As well, the power of a freedom magnet can blind those in its capture to the havoc created by, on the one hand, too much of one kind of freedom (the proverbial kid in the candy shop) and on the other, the harm created within the social system of which the individual is a part. Popper refers to this ripple effect of personal freedom to other parts of the social net as the "paradox of freedom" (1945, p. 330); an increase in freedom in one part of a social system can seriously decrease freedom in another part. Given freedom's radiating net, an argument can be made that for a claim for some kind of freedom to be legitimate, it ought always to be accompanied by a corresponding recognition and willingness to shoulder the responsibility of the decrease in freedom that potentially accompanies it. This will be the focus of what is to follow. One exception to this balancing act is the freedom to control one's attraction to freedom. This "self-focused freedom," or what Kant referred to as autonomy, carries with it the possibility of promoting both the welfare of the individual and the social system within which the agent functions. That is, unlike the call of the freedom magnets outside the self, this self-freedom does not create a zero-sum situation. It is for that reason that it will be argued that promoting this self-focused freedom ought to be the ultimate goal of any educational initiative, as indeed it is for most practitioners of Philosophy for/with Children. Looking more closely at self-focused freedom will be the second major focus of this paper.
Viterbo University. 900 Viterbo Drive, La Crosse, WI 54601. Tel: 608-796-3700; Web site: https://journal.viterbo.edu/index.php/atpp/index
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A