Freedom Class 11 Notes Political Science Chapter 12 - CBSE

Chapter : 12

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The absence of restraints (restrictions) is what defines freedom.
When an individual is free from external restraints, freedom is said to exist. According to this definition, a person is free if they are not subjected to external controls or coercion, are able to make their own decisions, and behave in an autonomous manner. Additionally, freedom involves giving people more opportunities to freely express themselves and realise their potential.
A free society would be one in which each individual can reach their full potential with the least amount of
social restraints.
No person residing in society can realistically expect to live completely free from any form of limitations or
restrictions. It therefore, becomes vital to decide which societal restriction are acceptable and which should be lifted, as well as which ones are justified.
Another benefit of freedom is that it enables people to fully express their creativity, sensibility, and abilities,
whether they are used for sports, science, art, music, or exploration. One can pursue their interests in a free society with the fewest restrictions possible.

Domination and outside controls may impose restrictions on people's freedom.
Such limitations may be imposed by the government through laws that represent the rulers' control over the populace and may be backed by force, or they may be imposed by force.
The citizens of a state might still have some influence over their rulers if the government is democratic.
Because of this, democratic government is regarded as an essential tool for preserving individual liberties.
But social disparity, such as that implied in the caste system, or high economic inequality in a society can also have a negative impact on freedom.

Without limitations, civilisation would deteriorate into chaos.
People can disagree on ideas and attitudes, they might have competing goals, and they can fight for control of limited resources.
There are people all around us who are prepared to fight for both serious and unimportant reasons.
Every civilization therefore needs some means of policing violence and resolving conflicts.
Therefore, every society needs some mechanisms to control violence and settle disputes. So long as we are
able to respect each other’s views and do not attempt to impose our views on others we may be able to live freely and with minimum constraints.
While putting some constraints it also requires to respect differences of views, opinions and beliefs. Legal
and political restraints to ensure that differences may be discussed and debated without one group
coercively imposing its views on the other.

John Stuart Mill in his essay On Liberty called political theory the 'Harm Principle'.
Here, Mill makes a crucial distinction. He makes a distinction between "self-regarding" activities, which are those that solely have an impact on the individual actor and no one else, and "other regarding" actions, that creates an impact on others.
He contends that the state (or any other external authority) has no right to interfere with decisions for activities that affects on only one's own self, or self-regarding actions.
In contrast, there is a rationale for outside interference when it comes to behaviours that have consequences for others or actions that could hurt them.
In this instance, the state has the power to prevent an individual from acting in a way that harms another person.
Freedom is the foundation of human civilisation and is so essential to a life of dignity that it should only be restricted under extraordinary situations.
People should be willing to put up with diverse lifestyles, viewpoints, and interests as long as they don't harm
others.

There are two sorts of liberty according to political theory:

Negative Liberty

"Negative liberty" aims to define and protect a space in which the person would have absolute freedom to
do, or transform into whatever they so desire.
The tradition of negative liberty promotes an untouchable zone of non-interference where each person is free to express themselves. Human dignity is damaged if the space is too small.

Positive Liberty

Positive liberty strives to create a society that fosters the individual's development because it recognises that one can only be free in the society (and not outside of it), whereas negative liberty is only concerned with the inviolable area of non-interference and not with the conditions in society outside of this area as such.
In order to reduce the barriers to a person's ability to develop their unique identity, positive liberty looks at the circumstances and nature of the relationship between the individual and society.

Freedom of expression is a fundamental value, hence, society must be prepared to tolerate some inconveniences to defend freedom of expression from those who would seek to curtail it.
Thus, there are several types of constraints, and we are subject to them in various contexts. As we consider such circumstances, we must recognise that restrictions that are supported by organised social, religious, or cultural authority or by the power of the state limit our freedom in ways that are challenging to overcome.