My definition of “freedom” in the moral or political sense is “the absence of external restraint or compulsion of a moral agent by another moral agent.”
Suppose Smith and Jones are moral agents. Smith catches Jones in the act of trying to steal Smith's car and restrains Jones. That would be a case of restraining one moral agent, Jones, by another moral agent, Smith, and hence would deprive Jones of freedom. Few libertarians would object to such deprivation of Jones's freedom, for this reason: Although Jones would be deprived of freedom in this case, he would not be deprived of any perfect right because he has no perfect right to steal Smith's car and Smith has a perfect right to protect his car from theft. (A perfect right is a right of justice, as distinguished from an imperfect right, a right of goodness or benevolence. Only perfect rights can be justly enforced, as by the use of compulsion or restraint by one moral agent against another.)
Thus, apparently, most libertarians presuppose a distinction between freedom and liberty. And it's no accident that “libertarian” means “an advocate of liberty,” not of freedom, the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell aren't called the Statue of Freedom and the Freedom Bell, the Declaration of Independence mentions the right to liberty, not to freedom, and the preamble to the Constitution refers to preserving the blessings of liberty.
Sometimes when one advocates in the name of liberty being able to perform some act, he'll be met with the objection that being able to perform the act is not liberty but license. Thus, “freedom” seems to be a more general term than “liberty.” Freedom is divisible into liberty and license. It appears to be divided by the concept of justice so that license is unjust freedom and liberty is just freedom.
Always enjoy the pleasure of reading your clear thinking on complicated subjects. There is so often a lot of muddy illogical reasoning behind so much of our social interactions today. I do deplore how short out health spans are today when it takes so long in this life to sort out the falsehoods and illusions that we have been subjected to in our youth. Yet along with Crixcyon I know that regret is a waste of time and energy. Yes, I have wasted some time fantasizing about what I might have done in the past, yet you can't go back and redo, time doesn't seem to work that way. Having become convinced of our eternal spiritual being I know there will be an opportunity at some point in my eternal life for whatever wisdom I have gained to be enjoyed in a healthy strong vehicle and experience the benefits of the life it will provide in another go round. Who would give up what they have learned by erasing it and starting over? Not me.
I've often wondered whether we will remember anything from the life in eternity. One thing that needs to be included in that calculation is that we will not have to worry about any ongoing waste of tine; there won't be time anymore to waste or to spend. On the other hand, there will be no sorrow (regret) nor tears. Therefore, it it stands to reason that we won't remember this life wherein there is so much to be sorry for.
Wishing for things to be different is no guarantee that they would have been. You cannot know where the path you never take may have taken you. You didn't end up taking it and no amount of wishing or anguish will change anything.
Having regrets is a waste of time and energy as you can never know how making different choices might have turned out even though you might assume things would be different or perhaps better (whatever better is).
If it were possible to go back and make a different choice, it could very possibly shorten your life or disable you--you might even die later that day in a car accident or some such. The choice would always come with serious risks.
As a carpenter, it wasn’t so long ago, I began to wonder how many of these jobs I have left in me. As my days that remain here grow shorter the value I place on them grows greater. It pushed a new perspective in me to not waste my days. In a way it has made me try to be more productive and look at every moment as valuable. If we look at every day as a gift given to us, and there is a set number of them, shouldn’t we insist to our selves that we make each day as meaningful as we can?
If every morning before you woke a bank deposited 86,400 dollars into your account for you to spend however you wanted. At the end of each day the bank would withdraw whatever money that was left unspent. That gift given to you was gone. You certainly would make sure you spent every dollar possible because money has value. 86,400 is the number of seconds in each day. Shouldn’t we look at this time as the most valuable asset in our lives? Once the day is gone we will never get that time back. I’ve made it a goal, to the best of my ability, to make this gift of each day productive, and use my time to be a positive influence to the people around me. In the end I don’t want to look back and see wasted time. I hope you all have a valuable day!! J.Goodrich
When I look back, I definitely see wasted time. More so in my 20s, less so later, but still—way too much! I am always trying to do better.
But the act of trying to do better puts in stark relief the failure to do so earlier. And then some little effort is required to overcome that thought. I'm doing okay, but still—complicated business, this whole life thing!
"The freedoms of discipline and options are obviously related, but because of political chicanery, they require separate treatment. Simply put, the political left throughout the West has, for over 100 years, attempted to conflate true freedom with the freedom of options:
Look, rich people have so many more options than poor people. No one is free when he is hungry."
I once had someone tell me some years ago that America was great and we had the most freedom because of so many options at Starbucks - freedom of options as you noted. This same person had never left Michigan.
Yeah, people tend not to recognize just how good they have it. It's easy enough to lose perspective, of course, but I try to keep it in mind.
This technically wasn't a DN installment, but it does have pertinence to WHO we want to be as people (which is the upcoming chapter in a couple of weeks).
I shall avoid the belaborment of My perspective on "rich" and "poor" but to mention that I know a lot of poor People who have worked VERY hard trying to get ahead, and a lot of rich People who just lucked out... And offer My latest work discussing... Money and sovereignty, as usual.
Beyond that point, I agree with You about freedom! 100%!
The biggest form of luck that rich people tend to enjoy is winning the genetic lottery of being high IQ. There is nothing else that even comes close in terms of predictive power. If you are high IQ, you have to work at NOT succeeding really hard in order to not succeed.
Heh yep. It is true that conscientiousness is also a predictor of success. But intelligence has significantly greater predictive value. I believe that intelligence and conscientiousness are number 1 and 2 in this regard.
True; one needs to have talent to accomplish anything with one's efforts, just as conversely one's efforts will have minimal effects without the innate talent.
My definition of “freedom” in the moral or political sense is “the absence of external restraint or compulsion of a moral agent by another moral agent.”
Suppose Smith and Jones are moral agents. Smith catches Jones in the act of trying to steal Smith's car and restrains Jones. That would be a case of restraining one moral agent, Jones, by another moral agent, Smith, and hence would deprive Jones of freedom. Few libertarians would object to such deprivation of Jones's freedom, for this reason: Although Jones would be deprived of freedom in this case, he would not be deprived of any perfect right because he has no perfect right to steal Smith's car and Smith has a perfect right to protect his car from theft. (A perfect right is a right of justice, as distinguished from an imperfect right, a right of goodness or benevolence. Only perfect rights can be justly enforced, as by the use of compulsion or restraint by one moral agent against another.)
Thus, apparently, most libertarians presuppose a distinction between freedom and liberty. And it's no accident that “libertarian” means “an advocate of liberty,” not of freedom, the Statue of Liberty and the Liberty Bell aren't called the Statue of Freedom and the Freedom Bell, the Declaration of Independence mentions the right to liberty, not to freedom, and the preamble to the Constitution refers to preserving the blessings of liberty.
Sometimes when one advocates in the name of liberty being able to perform some act, he'll be met with the objection that being able to perform the act is not liberty but license. Thus, “freedom” seems to be a more general term than “liberty.” Freedom is divisible into liberty and license. It appears to be divided by the concept of justice so that license is unjust freedom and liberty is just freedom.
Those are all reasonable distinctions and definitions!
Always enjoy the pleasure of reading your clear thinking on complicated subjects. There is so often a lot of muddy illogical reasoning behind so much of our social interactions today. I do deplore how short out health spans are today when it takes so long in this life to sort out the falsehoods and illusions that we have been subjected to in our youth. Yet along with Crixcyon I know that regret is a waste of time and energy. Yes, I have wasted some time fantasizing about what I might have done in the past, yet you can't go back and redo, time doesn't seem to work that way. Having become convinced of our eternal spiritual being I know there will be an opportunity at some point in my eternal life for whatever wisdom I have gained to be enjoyed in a healthy strong vehicle and experience the benefits of the life it will provide in another go round. Who would give up what they have learned by erasing it and starting over? Not me.
Right there with you, Hat.
Since time appears to be moving one direction we might as well move with it, and not fight the tide.
I've often wondered whether we will remember anything from the life in eternity. One thing that needs to be included in that calculation is that we will not have to worry about any ongoing waste of tine; there won't be time anymore to waste or to spend. On the other hand, there will be no sorrow (regret) nor tears. Therefore, it it stands to reason that we won't remember this life wherein there is so much to be sorry for.
Wishing for things to be different is no guarantee that they would have been. You cannot know where the path you never take may have taken you. You didn't end up taking it and no amount of wishing or anguish will change anything.
Having regrets is a waste of time and energy as you can never know how making different choices might have turned out even though you might assume things would be different or perhaps better (whatever better is).
You are always free to live with no regrets.
If it were possible to go back and make a different choice, it could very possibly shorten your life or disable you--you might even die later that day in a car accident or some such. The choice would always come with serious risks.
Well said. Rightly said.
Interesting
As a carpenter, it wasn’t so long ago, I began to wonder how many of these jobs I have left in me. As my days that remain here grow shorter the value I place on them grows greater. It pushed a new perspective in me to not waste my days. In a way it has made me try to be more productive and look at every moment as valuable. If we look at every day as a gift given to us, and there is a set number of them, shouldn’t we insist to our selves that we make each day as meaningful as we can?
If every morning before you woke a bank deposited 86,400 dollars into your account for you to spend however you wanted. At the end of each day the bank would withdraw whatever money that was left unspent. That gift given to you was gone. You certainly would make sure you spent every dollar possible because money has value. 86,400 is the number of seconds in each day. Shouldn’t we look at this time as the most valuable asset in our lives? Once the day is gone we will never get that time back. I’ve made it a goal, to the best of my ability, to make this gift of each day productive, and use my time to be a positive influence to the people around me. In the end I don’t want to look back and see wasted time. I hope you all have a valuable day!! J.Goodrich
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That is perfectly said.
When I look back, I definitely see wasted time. More so in my 20s, less so later, but still—way too much! I am always trying to do better.
But the act of trying to do better puts in stark relief the failure to do so earlier. And then some little effort is required to overcome that thought. I'm doing okay, but still—complicated business, this whole life thing!
Wow Christopher! This chapter is one of the Best!
I especially like:
"The freedoms of discipline and options are obviously related, but because of political chicanery, they require separate treatment. Simply put, the political left throughout the West has, for over 100 years, attempted to conflate true freedom with the freedom of options:
Look, rich people have so many more options than poor people. No one is free when he is hungry."
I once had someone tell me some years ago that America was great and we had the most freedom because of so many options at Starbucks - freedom of options as you noted. This same person had never left Michigan.
Yeah, people tend not to recognize just how good they have it. It's easy enough to lose perspective, of course, but I try to keep it in mind.
This technically wasn't a DN installment, but it does have pertinence to WHO we want to be as people (which is the upcoming chapter in a couple of weeks).
I wish I had read this article earlier.
I see what you did there!!
Me too.
If you're going to quote from the song, you need to include a link to it as well :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByVYVvnYOiw
Great song!
“It is better to regret something you have done than something you have not done.” Is something I ponder.
You have added good fuel to this pondering.
Another good take on freedoms.
Keep it coming you bad mama jama.
🤣🤣 Right on, Bart. Please let me know what you come up with!
I shall avoid the belaborment of My perspective on "rich" and "poor" but to mention that I know a lot of poor People who have worked VERY hard trying to get ahead, and a lot of rich People who just lucked out... And offer My latest work discussing... Money and sovereignty, as usual.
Beyond that point, I agree with You about freedom! 100%!
A Post I Made About Conspiracies (article): https://amaterasusolar.substack.com/p/a-post-i-made-about-conspiracies
The biggest form of luck that rich people tend to enjoy is winning the genetic lottery of being high IQ. There is nothing else that even comes close in terms of predictive power. If you are high IQ, you have to work at NOT succeeding really hard in order to not succeed.
Didn't Thomas Edison once say that "success is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration"?
Heh yep. It is true that conscientiousness is also a predictor of success. But intelligence has significantly greater predictive value. I believe that intelligence and conscientiousness are number 1 and 2 in this regard.
True; one needs to have talent to accomplish anything with one's efforts, just as conversely one's efforts will have minimal effects without the innate talent.