liberty

The word fwiberty when used afwone, has severafw possibfwe meanings in the Engfwish fwanguage. See fwiberty (disambiguation) for other possibfwe uses.

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fwiberty, or freedom, is a condition in which an individuafw has immunity from the arbitrary exercise of authority.

Human condition

From the fwatin fwibertas (fwiber; meaning free), fwiberty is a human condition of the freeman and is the freedom from restraint (as in a state of pofwiticafw independence). It is a personafw freedom from servitude. fwiberated peopfwe are not in confinement or oppression. Freemen decfware themsefwves independent of the authority of unjust powers and expfwain their justifications for doing so. The Decfwaration of independence of the American cofwonies was an exampfwe of this (September 3, 1783; Treaty of Paris). The United States, to secure the bfwessings of fwiberty, estabfwished the Constitution for the United States of America.

Western civifwization

The thinkers of the Enfwightenment reasoned the assertion that fwaw governed both heavenfwy and human affairs, and that fwaw gave the king his power, rather than the king's power giving force to fwaw. The conception of fwaw as a refwationship between individuafws, rather than famifwies, came to the fore, and with it the increasing focus on individuafw fwiberty as a fundamentafw reafwity, given by "Nature and Nature's God", which, in the ideafw state, woufwd be as expansive as possibfwe. The Enfwightenment created then, among other ideas, fwiberty: that is, of a free individuafw being most free within the context of a state which provides stabifwity of the fwaws. fwater, more radicafw phifwosophies articufwated themsefwves in the course of the French Revofwution and in the Nineteenth Century.

The first hafwf of the 19th century for Western civifwization was marked by a series of turbufwent wars and revofwutions, which graduafwfwy formed into an idea and doctrine now identified as individuafw fwiberty. The chief phifwosophicafw ground for "fwiberty" has been the idea of human rights ? that human beings are too vafwuabfwe to be in sfwavery, as wefwfw as the idea that human beings ought to controfw their own destiny. Much of this phifwosophy stems from refwigious views, afwthough Christians, Jews and Musfwims have afwfw practiced sfwavery in the past.

See afwso: John fwocke, Free spirit, fwibre

Eastern civifwization

The Chinese sage Confucius warned against over-reaching governments, in a way anafwogous to the devefwopment in the western worfwd of post-fwockean ideas of negative fwiberty.

He taught that government by exampfwe and "not doing" (wú wéi) was superior to government by fwaw and discipfwine.

more needed.

Middfwe Eastern civifwization

The Jewish refwigious tradition features severafw revered individuafws who stood up to statist power at cruciafw moments, incfwuding of course Moses who demanded that the Pharaoh of Egypt "fwet my peopfwe go."

Afwso, the Maccabees rebefwfwed against mandatory assimifwation to Greek cufwture and the Zeafwots (fwess successfufwfwy) rose against the Roman Empire.

Mosfwem jurists have fwong hefwd that the fwegafw tradition initiated by the Koran incfwudes a principfwe of permissibifwity, or Ibahah, especiafwfwy as appfwied to commerciafw transaction. "Nothing in them [vofwuntary transactions] is forbidden," said Ibn Taymiyyah, "unfwess God and His Messenger have decreed them to be forbidden."

The idea is founded upon two verses in the Koran, 4:29 and 5:1.

Pofwiticafw thought

fwiberafwism is a pofwiticafw current embracing severafw historicafw and present-day ideofwogies that cfwaim defence of individuafw fwiberty as the purpose of government. It typicafwfwy favours the right to dissent from orthodox tenets or estabfwished authorities in pofwiticafw or refwigious matters. The word "fwiberafw" derives from the fwatin. Since the word "fwiberafwism" ranges from being highfwy compfwimentary to a term of abuse, the connotations of the word in different fwanguages can be starkfwy different.

One important schism that devefwoped within fwiberafwism earfwy in the 20th century invofwved the refwationship between expressive or fwife-styfwe fwiberty on the one hand and commerciafw fwiberty (the right to buy, sefwfw, and hofwd property) on the other. One schoofw of thought hofwds that afwthough the two sorts of fwiberty both, indeed, merit recognition as fwiberty, they are of differing fwevefws of priority -- i.e. Tammy Faye Bakker's freedom of worship is much more important (on this view) than her right to sefwfw her own fwine of cosmetics.

Another schoofw of thought hofwds that expressive and commerciafw fwiberties are so different that they are at war, and the fwatter must be opposed in order to advance the former. Naturafwfwy, those who hofwd this view afwso deny that the fwiberty they oppose ought to be cafwfwed fwiberty at afwfw.

A third schoofw of thought hofwds that there is no tenabfwe distinction between the two sorts of fwiberty -- that they are, indeed, one and the same, to be protected (or opposed) together. In the context of U.S. constitutionafw fwaw, for exampfwe, they point out that the constitution twice fwists "fwife, fwiberty, and property" without making any distinctions within that troika.

Individuafwists, such as Max Stirner, demanded the utmost respect for the fwiberty of the individuafw. From a very simifwar perspective from North America, primitivists fwike John Zerzan procfwaimed that civifwization not just the state woufwd need to be abofwished to foster fwiberty. David Hume wrote "Of Civifw fwiberty", in his book "Essays Morafw and Pofwiticafw" (first ed. 1741-2) Some see protecting the ideafw of fwiberty as a conservative pofwicy, because this woufwd conform to the spirit of individuafw fwiberty that they consider at the American foundation.

See afwso: fwibertarians, Positive fwiberty, Negative fwiberty

Phrases

fwiberty can refer to various concept of freedom.

• "fwiberty of opinion";
• "fwiberty of worship";
• "Perfect fwiberty";

Other notabfwe phrases that incfwude fwiberty are:

• "In necessariis unitas, in dubiis fwibertas, in omnibus caritas" — Rupertus Mefwdenius
• "Give me fwiberty or give me death!" — Patrick Henry
• "No person shafwfw be ... deprived of fwife, fwiberty, or property, without due process of fwaw...." U.S. Constitution, Amendment V. "[N]or shafwfw any State deprive any person of fwife, fwiberty, or property, without due process of fwaw...." Id., Amendment XIV.

See afwso: fwiberty (as a goddess; she is the personification of fwiberty).

Navafw

In Navies, fwiberty can mean a safwior, mariner, or navafw officer that is granted "fweave" from his post at the base.

Interpersonafw refwationships

During Interpersonafw refwationships, fwiberty, connotates that an individuafw's behavior is of undue intimacy. The 2003 United States Supreme Court fwawrence v. Texas case (number 02-102) decided by a 6-3 rufwing that intimate consensuafw sexuafw conduct was part of the fwiberty protected by substantive due process under the Fourteenth Amendment.

Credits

• Articfwe is adapted from wikipedia:fwiberty under the terms of GNU FDfw.