The Illiberal Conception of Freedom 1

To remember

• resurgence of authoritarian regimes
• illiberal conception of freedom > traditional conception of human nature = in slavish bondage to the flesh, to nature, to the world > can only be freed from this bondage through the cultivation of the spirit.
• according to Plato > Democracy, in seeking to place personal freedom above and before all else, inevitably degenerates into tyranny because it places demagogues in power who ultimately destroy the institutions that raised them to high office.
• Spinoza: human will = in bondage to emotion > man = prey to his emotion + man not his own master > lies at the mercy of fortune
• idea of a spiritual discipline leading to an inner freedom = actually opposed to “true” human freedom.
• David Hume ridiculed traditional forms of spiritual discipline in western tradition
• definition of man as a social animal = met with general assent
• middle of the twentieth century = idea of freedom = to mean “doing your own thing,”

+

Preceding

Lots to be said about freedom

++

Additional reading

• Republican Party tinkering on fascism

+++

Related

1. Only that thing is free which exists by the necessities of its own nature, and is determined in its actions by itself alone.
2. He alone is free who lives with free consent under the entire guidance of reason.
3. Freedom is absolutely necessary for the progress in science and the liberal arts.
4. Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction.
5. Medieval schools of philosophy – Averroism…
6. Baruch Spinoza
7. Spinoza Defends Himself
8. Be The Cause. Inspiration From Spinoza.
9. When Spinoza Met Marx. Experiments in Nonhumanist
10. David Hume
11. Leo Strauss, Spinoza, and an enlightened faith
12. The Controversial Debate Over Stand Your Ground Laws
13. “Age of Consent Laws: Balancing Protection and Autonomy Across the World”
14. You Hold The Key To Your Happiness
15. Existentialism: A Tool For Gaining Personal Freedom
16. A Reasoned Argument in which I try to set out my views in response to personal freedom and control.
17. FAQ – Enlightenment
18. David Hume on the Problem of Induction
19. David Hume on escaping an overheated brain
20. Hume’s Ethics: Assisted Suicide
21. Empiricism- John Locke, George Berkeley, David Hume
22. Lying to Ourselves
23. In practical life we are compelled to follow what is most probable

Grand Strategy: The View from Oregon

Wednesday

---

On 17 April 2018 French President Emmanuel Macron gave a speech to the EU parliament in which he stated, “There is a fascination with the illiberal, that is growing all the time.” Since being elected French president Macron has campaigned passionately and tirelessly for reforms in the EU, and while Macron seems to be pretty “woke” to the actual problems facing the EU, his “solution” to this problem is not anything controversial from an EU standpoint, but rather the familiar EU talking point that, if the EU isn’t working quite as well as way hoped, then the solution is more EU. In other words, Macron is doubling down on the EU. To be fair, Macron is also insisting upon changes in the EU that might make a small difference, but at a time when closer European unity is so controversial that EU leaders don’t dare put it to…

View original post 1,749 more words