American is a country that prides
itself on the founding fathers. Therefore it comes as no surprise that we constantly
hear the recurring themes of freedom and liberty. However, it is a rarity for Americans
to think about what liberty means, or what kinds we have. While reading the Leviathan, Hobbes' section Of the Liberty
of Subjects on page 189 stood out to me. Particularly:
“Fear, and liberty are consistent;
as when a man throweth his goods into the sea for fear the ship should sink, he
doth it nevertheless very willingly, and may refuse to do it if he will:
therefore the action of one that was free: so a man sometimes pays his debt,
only for fear of imprisonment, which because nobody hindered him from
detaining, was the action of a man at liberty. And generally all actions which
men do in commonwealths, for fear of the law, are actions, which the doers had
liberty to omit.”
This text had me thinking.
Especially when Hobbes says “fear, and liberty are consistent.” I always
thought that liberty had nothing to do with fear, because liberty (at
least civil) is a human right. However Hobbes makes a good point when he says, “So
a man sometimes pays his debt, only for fear of imprisonment.” Not to stray too
far into the ‘what if’ territory, but I am curious to think about what kinds of
liberty we actually have in the US. As a result of fear, we are obligated into certain
situations where we really have little say (I'm sure you can think of several examples: Bills, Taxes, etc). Some people say that our liberties
our shrinking, some say they are growing. What do you think? Is fear and
liberty consistent?
Fear and Liberty. At first look, I would say that they wouldn't go together. However, Hobbes brings up the point that men naturally love liberty, and dominion over others. I think fear comes into the mix when men feel threatened and defensive when their liberty is jeopardized. Of course, when freedoms are taken away, people feel threatened. The question I have thought about when reading the Leviathan, is how much are people really willing to give up for the commonwealth? At what point are people compliant because of fear, or disobedient because of fear? I think they are pretty consistent.
ReplyDeleteAs for the kinds of liberty we have in the US, I feel like we have a lot. Its easy to take our liberties for granted. We can attend school, we can vote, we can own arms, we can surf the internet freely. Bills and taxes are just some of the things we have to live with for the commonwealth. We have the opportunities to change policies if there is enough people and support[some of the time...]. With 'fear and liberty' in mind, how would you distinguish civil liberties and civil rights? Because I think that is a big part in how people act and react regarding their personal liberties.
I find that Hobbes has a particular idea of what liberty means, one that is very different from how we think of it today. On Page 189, He discusses how Liberty arises from Necessity. He goes on to declare that "The liberty of a subject, lieth therefore only in those things, which in regulating their actions the sovereign hath praetermitted" So a Hobbsian understanding of liberty would be more along the lines of you are free to do what you want, so long as it it lies with in the bounds of the law. As he says on page 189, "If we take liberty, for an exemption of laws, it is no less absurd".
ReplyDeleteWhen reading the passage you address, I cannot help but think of how closely Hobbes’ idea of fear and liberty being consistent is related to the dichotomy of “freedom from” something and “freedom to” do something; these concepts arising out of negative and positive liberty. The notion of “freedom from,” or negative liberty, seems to develop out of the fear that Hobbes addresses. Negative liberty is defined as not having any obstacles in the way of one’s life or goals. Our government establishes in our Bill of Rights that we have the right to vote, speech, religion, and so forth, which allows for freedom from coercion of the government. It is out of this fear of coercion that this liberty arises. With positive liberty, or “freedom to,” one is given a sense of entitlement to engage in acts that give self-control under a governmental system. In the U.S. we have the right to, or freedom to bear arms in fear of being attached in a situation where the government cannot directly assist you in a time of immediate crisis. One can see the overlap and careful balance between positive and negative liberties in our U.S. government, that are indeed consistent with the fear that that is the root of these protections on our “freedom from’s” and “freedom to’s.”
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