PHILOS 1B03 Lecture Notes - Lecture 9: Negative Liberty, Harm Principle, Positive Liberty
27 Feb 2017
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Ancient civil liberty: direct participation of each citizen in the sovereign state power, real influence of individuals in public policy. Liberty = collective freedom through shared societal responsibility and subjection to authority. Modern civil liberty: indirect participation of citizens in sovereign state power, representatives influence public policy. Liberty = individual freedoms guaranteed by an independent political authority. We can no longer enjoy the liberty of the ancients . Within the modern industrial nation-state, the individual has become. Lost in the multitude (and) can almost never perceive the influence he exercises" (p. 123) Meaning: the individual no longer exercises direct influence because s/he does not directly participate in political power. Ancient liberty exchanged individual freedom for collective power through direct participation. Modern liberty exchanged collective freedom for individual power through indirect participation. Ancient: in securing collective political power they surrendered individual rights and freedoms. Modern: in securing individual rights and freedom we have surrendered our share in political power.
