Christman on Positive Freedom

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John Christman on Positive Freedom In “Liberalism and Individual Positive Freedom,” John Christman emphasizes the necessity for autonomy when it comes to the notion of positive freedom. Christman proposes a situation involving a woman who has been raised in a female-oppressive society. He proposes further that the woman is then placed in a society where encouragement of women to pursue their own agendas is prevalent. If this woman is to then decline any opportunities to advance her own social positioning, Christman says, the woman is left un-free and the scenario proves that negative liberty is not a full account for human freedom. Christman then goes on to describe the relationship between political participation and individual autonomy, further stating that the connection is not conceptually necessary for his account of positive freedom. Christman argues that because modern societies are frequently large and industrial, several individual concerns are not dictated one way or the other by a governing body and that one can be self-governing and possess individual positive liberty without active participation in democratic institutions. Throughout the article, Christman emphasizes the importance of the origin of one’s values, adding that these values must have been “formed in a manner or by a process that the individual had, or could have had, something to say about.” He consistently supports the notion that the conditions of autonomy bear on the formation of preferences rather than the preferences themselves at any given time. Christman also criticizes the “inner citadel” concept proposed by Berlin. Christman states that if a desire is altered or eliminated forcefully (as a result of some interference), the subject does not experience an increase in freedom. He argues that only those changes in desire that take place in a self-conscious, rational manner will

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