Freedom: Negative and Positive Conceptions

193 Pages·2005·17.278 MB·English

by  Yildiz Silier

ROUTLEDGE LIBRARY EDITIONS:
FREE WILL AND DETERMINISM
Volume 5
FREEDOM

FREEDOM
Negative and Positive Conceptions
. .
YILDIZ SILIER
Firstpublishedin2005byAshgate
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ISBN:978-1-138-63228-8(Set)
ISBN:978-1-315-20086-6(Set)(ebk)
ISBN:978-1-138-70348-3(Volume5)(hbk)
ISBN:978-1-315-20307-2(Volume5)(ebk)
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Freedom: Negative and
Positive Conceptions
© Yildtz Silier 2005
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission of
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Yild1z Silier has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act, 1988, to be identified as the author ofthis work.
Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
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Croft Road I 0 I Cherry Street
Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405
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I I
Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Silier, Yild1z
Freedom : political, metaphysical, negative, and positive. - (Ashgate new
critical thinking in philosophy)
l.Free will and determinism
I. Title
123.5
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Silier, Yildiz, 1975-
Freedom: political, metaphysical, negative, and positive I Y1ldiz Silier.
p. em.- (Ashgate new critical thinking in philosophy)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-5267-X (hardcover: alk. paper)
I. Liberty - Philosophy. I. Title. II. Series.
Bl05.L45S55 2005
123'.5--dc22
2005002552
ISBN 0 7546 5267 X
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
Contents
Acknowledgements vii
Introduction
PART I: THE NEGATIVE CONCEPTION OF FREEDOM
Hayek's Notion of Freedom 9
2 Constraints on Freedom 21
3 Free Action, Free Person and Free Society 34
4 Limits of Negative Freedom in Capitalism 42
5 The Hybrid View 57
PART II: THE POSITIVE CONCEPTION OF FREEDOM
6 Green's Notion of Freedom 79
7 Kant on Rational Self-Determination 95
8 Hegel on Concrete Freedom 106
9 Communitarians on the Social Context of Freedom 119
10 Freedom as the Power for Self-Determination 131
11 The Historical Account: Freedoms and Unfreedoms in Capitalism 148
Conclusion 165
Bibliography 170
Index 176

Acknowledgements
This book is largely based on my PhD thesis, completed in 2003. A few years ago
when I read Prof Sean Sayers' Marxism and Human Nature, I was about to finish
my Master's dissertation. I was so much inspired and illuminated by this book that
I knew I had to be supervised by its author, when writing my PhD thesis. My
dreams came true when I was accepted to the University of Kent at Canterbury,
under his supervision. He has been an excellent supervisor, both setting me free to
find my own voice and patiently inviting me to flourish, guiding me with valuable
comments and suggestions. I am especially grateful for his insistence that I should
incorporate Hegel in my thesis, in so far as he provides fundamental insights on the
positive conception of freedom, even though I showed resistance for a long time
because Hegel's language seemed so impenetrable when compared with the
language of analytical philosophy that was my background context.
I am more than grateful to my mother Prof Oya Koymen, who has supported
me in every way and has enabled me to continue without diverting my path. I
would like to thank my father Orhan Silier for encouraging me to achieve self-
mastery by continuously setting up higher expectations and standards.
I owe many thanks to my jury members Prof Ellen Meiksins Wood and Prof
Richard Norman for their valuable suggestions and inspiring questions in the viva
exam.
Being in Britain, first time away from my family and country has been a great
and challenging experience, helping me to discover a lot about myself. I would like
to thank the University of Kent at Canterbury for providing a cosy atmosphere and
to Britain for showing me a glimpse of what it means to be living in a free country
with a welfare state.
This first book is dedicated to my dearest mother Oya Koymen.