Topics Freedom

Question I do not believe that true freedom can actually exist within any society that is governed by any form of laws or rules. To me, freedom is to be completely without restraint of any kind, be it legal, social, theological, or whatever. As long as there exists any sort of list of things that are not to be done, said, or thought, and these rules are actively upheld by empowered individuals and/or groups, I do not think that anyone within such a society is truly free. I would like to know if anyone agrees or disagrees and why.

Accepted:
March 9, 2008

Comments

Consider this little argument:

A society with laws against killing is a society where true freedom doesn't exist.
A society where true freedom doesn't exist is undesirable.
Therefore, a society with laws against killing is undesirable.

The argument is superficially valid, but it rests on an equivocation. The first premise is plausible if "true" is read as "unlimited" or "unbridled." But if "true" means something like "ideal," then the premise seems false. On the other hand, the second premise is plausible if "true" is read as "ideal," but seems false if "true" simply means "unbridled."

Indeed: if "true freedom" means "unbridled freedom," then most (all?) societies don't have "true freedom." But that's a mere tautology. Using the word "true" here doesn't give us any reason to think that a society with "true" freedom (in effect, a "society" with no laws at all) would be a good thing. It's hard to see what's desirable about a society where goons and thugs can go around offing people with impunity. It's hard to see what would be good about letting such people have their way.

So in short: if we read "true freedom" in one way, no one could disagree with what you say, but that's only because what you say is, as it were, true by definition. But if we read "true freedom" as incorporating a judgment about what's good or desirable, then most people will disagree for the most obvious of reasons: except for the very strong and very ruthless, living in a society like that would be like living in hell. And -- paradoxically or not -- it would be living in a society where meaningful freedom would be minimal for most of us, since so many of us would be at the mercy of the thugs and the goons.