The Discovery of Freedom

340 Pages·2012·3.8 MB·English

The Discovery of Freedom

Foundations of an ethical and incidentally prosperous society
Sanjeev Sabhlok, author of Breaking Free of Nehru

DRAFT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
Mosts artists don’t mind others observing from behind as they work on their paintings.
Observers get to see how a blank canvas evolves into a beautiful work of art. Not so with
writing: writers prefer to offer a finished product. I’m happy, however, to let you in on this work
as it evolves. I had aimed to finish it by end-2012 but from 2011 onwards other activities have
occupied my time. I don’t have any new timeline, now, to finish this work.

I’ve had this manuscript for public comment since mid-2008. Please provide comments at
[email protected]. Comments that end up influencing this book will be acknowledged. I seek
comments on the content and accuracy of my references. I’ll try to address the typos at
the very end.

Will I publish this as a book through a publisher? Not sure, yet.

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© Sanjeev Sabhlok, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
All rights reserved.

Version 0.298 dated 2 Dec 2012 – available on the internet at
http://discovery.sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/.

Version record: http://sanjeev.sabhlokcity.com/book2/version.html (but the version record has not been updated for years)
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Dedication

This book is dedicated to:
your success;
your family’s success;
your country’s success; and
the success of everyone on Earth.

Dedicated most importantly,
to your freedom to think and to be.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS

FRONTISPIECE: FREEDOM IS BOUNDED BY ACCOUNTABILITY .......................... 9
PREFACE.......................................................................................................... 10
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................. 20
PART 1 A THEORY OF FREEDOM ...................................................................... 24
CHAPTER 1 KNOW THYSELF ............................................................................ 25
1. Stardust ................................................................................................................... 26
2. Our ‘racial’, tribal, and national identities ................................................................ 31
2.1 ‘Race’ ................................................................................................................... 31
2.2 Languages, religions, and cultures ........................................................................... 32
2.3 Tribes and nations ................................................................................................. 33
3. Our brain is our behaviour ....................................................................................... 35
3.1 The lower brain: our body manager ......................................................................... 37
3.2 The middle brain: our motive force .......................................................................... 37
3.3 Our rational and aspirational higher brain ................................................................. 37
3.4 The mind and self .................................................................................................. 38
4. Which part of our brain predominates?.................................................................... 39
5. Human nature .......................................................................................................... 43
5.1 Individual and group nature .................................................................................... 43
5.2 Our needs, motivations, and intent .......................................................................... 44
5.3 Range of behaviour ................................................................................................ 46
5.4 Regularities ........................................................................................................... 47
6. The initial condition: State of nature ....................................................................... 52
6.1 Deductions from human nature ............................................................................... 52
6.2 Evidence from primitive tribes and the breakdown of political order ............................. 54
7. Two approaches to political society ......................................................................... 55
7.1 Collectivism (including the religious state) ................................................................ 56
7.2 Individualism, or liberalism ..................................................................................... 57
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8. Imagining the future ............................................................................................... 60
CHAPTER 2 THE MEANINGS OF FREEDOM ........................................................ 64
1. What the dictionary says ......................................................................................... 64
2. Further exploration of freedom ............................................................................... 67
2.1 Inner vs. outer freedom .......................................................................................... 67
2.2 Negative and positive liberty .................................................................................... 68
2.2.1 Negative liberty as the absence of unnecessary constraints ................................... 68
2.2.1 Self-determination and self-realisation (positive liberty) ........................................ 70
3. A definition of freedom ............................................................................................ 71
4. The challenge of ensuring a free society ................................................................. 74
CHAPTER 3 TWO MODERN THEORIES OF JUSTICE (FREEDOM) ........................ 77
1. Overview of the theories of freedom ....................................................................... 77
2. Two unsatisfactory theories of freedom and justice ................................................ 81
2.1 Rawls’s conception of ‘social’ justice .......................................................................... 82
2.2 Nozick’s extrapolations from self-ownership ............................................................... 91
3. Where does this lead us? ......................................................................................... 97
CHAPTER 4 A THEORY OF FREEDOM ............................................................... 99
Proposition 1. Life is the yardstick of ultimate value ................................................. 101
Conditions for taking human life................................................................................... 105
Proposition 2. We are born free, and must remain free ............................................. 107
Equal freedom ........................................................................................................... 108
Not free to injure ourselves ......................................................................................... 110
Proposition 3. Freedom comes with matching accountability .................................... 116
The loop of accountability ........................................................................................... 118
Accountability (attribution) as the basis of property rights ............................................... 120
Accountability for one’s responsibilities ......................................................................... 121
The processes and principles of accountability ............................................................... 123
Illustrations of accountability ....................................................................................... 129
Proposition 4. To defend our life and liberty we first need a collective fortress ........ 132
Our primary obligation – towards group self-defence ...................................................... 133
Relations with other nations ........................................................................................ 133
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Proposition 5. Within the fortress operates the modern (strategic) social contract ... 134
Reasonable equal opportunity and the social minimum .................................................... 140
Related issues ........................................................................................................... 150
Utilitarianism, neo-classical economics, and liberty ......................................................... 150
The happy slave? ....................................................................................................... 151
The institutions (pillars) of freedom .......................................................................... 152
PART 2 THE ‘PERSONAL’ PILLARS OF FREEDOM ............................................ 156
CHAPTER 5 INDEPENDENT THINKING .......................................................... 157
1. The value of oppositional thinking ......................................................................... 159
1.1 Oppositional thinking in India – Charvaka, Buddha .................................................... 160
1.2 Oppositional (dialectical) thinking – Socrates ............................................................ 166
1.3 Systematic doubt – Peter Abelard ........................................................................... 167
1.4 Opposing authority – Reformation ........................................................................... 171
2. Not taking oneself too seriously ............................................................................ 175
CHAPTER 6 CRITICAL THINKING .......................................................................... 176
1. The liberating torch of logic and science ................................................................ 176
1.1 The dialectical method ........................................................................................... 177
1.2 Deductive method ................................................................................................. 178
1.3 Scientific method .................................................................................................. 179
2. Critical thinking ..................................................................................................... 183
CHAPTER 7 ASPIRATION FOR A MORAL LIFE ................................................. 187
1. The basis of morality ............................................................................................. 187
1.1 Strategic incentives ............................................................................................... 188
1.2 The role of punishment .......................................................................................... 191
1.3 The promotion of crime by government ................................................................... 191
2. Religion has little to do with morality .................................................................... 193
3. Self-realisation ...................................................................................................... 195
4. Happiness .............................................................................................................. 196
PART 3 THE POLITICAL AND MARKET PILLARS OF FREEDOM...................................... 198
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CHAPTER 8 THE PILLAR OF TOLERANCE ................................................................ 199
1. The theory of tolerance ......................................................................................... 199
2. The limits of tolerance ........................................................................................... 200
3. Tolerance among religions .................................................................................... 202
3.1 Tolerance (and intolerance) in Christianity ............................................................... 204
3.2 Tolerance (and intolerance) in Islam ....................................................................... 209
3.3 Tolerance (and intolerance) in Hinduism .................................................................. 210
4. Conclusion ............................................................................................................. 219
CHAPTER 9 THE PILLAR OF LIMITED POWERS ......................................................... 221
1. The proper status and role of government ............................................................ 221
1.1 The social contract and strong state ........................................................................ 221
1.2 The first order functions of the state ....................................................................... 224
1.3 Limiting other roles ............................................................................................... 224
2. Reforming bad rulers ............................................................................................. 226
2.1 Flattery and petitions ............................................................................................ 227
2.2 Pontificating ......................................................................................................... 227
2.2.1 Religious preaching ......................................................................................... 227
2.2.2 Strategic political counsel ................................................................................ 230
3. The advance of popular sovereignty ...................................................................... 231
4. Options against tyranny ........................................................................................ 235
4.1 Civil disobedience ................................................................................................. 235
4.2 Violent revolution ................................................................................................. 236
4.3 Exit ..................................................................................................................... 236
CHAPTER 10 THE PILLAR OF DEMOCRACY .................................................... 237
1. Precursors of modern democracy .......................................................................... 238
1.1 Greek city states (and the Roman republic) ............................................................. 238
1.2 Indian republics and panchayats............................................................................. 239
2. The evolution of modern democracy ...................................................................... 242
2.1 The growing power of early British parliaments (1265-1688) ..................................... 242
2.2 The Glorious Revolution of 1688 ............................................................................. 243
2.3 The American Declaration of Independence, 1776 .................................................... 245
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2.4 The right to vote ................................................................................................... 246
3. Citizen-leadership in democracy ............................................................................ 247
3.1 Citizen assertion, and vigilance ............................................................................... 247
3.2 Leading the society: forming government ................................................................ 248
CHAPTER 11 THE PILLAR OF THE RULE OF LAW ........................................... 249
1. Laws must clarify expectations .............................................................................. 249
2. The same rules for all ............................................................................................ 250
3. The right to be produced before a court................................................................. 251
4. Separation of law-making and adjudication ........................................................... 251
CHAPTER 12 THE PILLAR OF PROPERTY RIGHTS .......................................... 253
1. National territorial rights (the Fortress) ................................................................ 253
1.2 The curse of jingoism ............................................................................................ 254
2. Individual property rights ...................................................................................... 256
2.1 Theories about citizens’ rights in property ................................................................ 258
CHAPTER 13 THE PILLAR OF EQUAL TREATMENT ......................................... 264
1. Equal individual sovereignty .................................................................................. 264
1.1 Sovereignty over our body: No slavery! ................................................................... 264
1.2 I’m not your ‘population problem’! .......................................................................... 267
1.3 No foreign aid, please! Teach us if you can .............................................................. 271
2. The end of racism .................................................................................................. 273
3. Equal freedom for women ...................................................................................... 277
4. Ending stereotypes ................................................................................................ 278
5. A social minimum for all ........................................................................................ 279
CHAPTER 14 THE (MANY) OTHER PILLARS OF FREEDOM .............................. 281
1. Freedom of expression .......................................................................................... 281
2. Free markets, free banking and public finance ...................................................... 283
2.1 Free markets ........................................................................................................ 283
2.2 Free trade ............................................................................................................ 285
2.3 Free labour markets .............................................................................................. 289
2.4 Free banking ........................................................................................................ 292
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2.5 Paying for the social contract: public finance ............................................................ 296
PART 4 WHAT LIES AHEAD ........................................................................... 300
CHAPTER 15 MODERN SOCIETIES EMERGE INTO FREEDOM .......................... 301
1. ‘Sovereignty’ of nations: The end of imperialism ................................................... 301
2. Shunning utopias like the plague! ......................................................................... 301
3. Where to, now? ..................................................................................................... 303
1 APPENDIX 1 ............................................................................................ 305
Socratic dialogue: an explanation ..................................... Error! Bookmark not defined.

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Frontispiece: Freedom is bounded by accountability

Freedom
(t t)
Accountability
(including attribution*)

*A free person is always accountable for his or her actions (or inaction).

‘The essence of liberty has always lain in the ability to choose as you wish to choose, because you
wish so to choose, uncoerced, unbullied, not swallowed up in some vast system; and the right to
resist, to be unpopular, to stand up for your convictions merely because they are your
convictions. That is true freedom, and without it there is neither freedom of any kind, nor even
the illusion of it.’ – Isaiah Berlin, in Freedom and Its Betrayal1

‘Liberty in thought and action is the only condition of life, growth and well-being: Where it does
not exist, the man, the race, and the nation must go down.’ – Vivekananda2

1 Berlin, Isaiah, Freedom and its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty, London: Pimlico, Random House, 2003,
p.103.
2 Cited in Modern India. 1986.NCERT. p. 218.
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Preface

‘The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of the blessings. The inherent
blessing of socialism is the equal sharing of misery.’ – Winston Churchill

Imagine that each letter in this book represents one person – with dreams, emotions,
feelings. By now over 100 ‘people’ have been ‘created’ by these first few words. Now add up all
characters in this book (about one million). You now ‘own’ these one million people’s lives.
Imagine, next, that you purchase 200 copies of this book. Now burn them! ‘Kill’ off these 200
million ‘people’. Then buy another 600 copies and damage them: pour water, throw them into a
drain. Injure these additional 600 million ‘people’!
This bout of extraordinary violence against 800 books might sound crazy enough, but the
actual killings of 200 million people in the twentieth century, with another 600 million others
harmed, is real. Just imagining these numbers is virtually impossible.
Most of these killings or other forms of harm were undertaken by governments driven by
collectivist ideologies that oppose human freedom. God did not come forward to save them. Only
freedom could have saved them but that’s precisely what did not have.
Freedom doesn’t sound like a big thing to us, brought up as we are in relatively liberty. But
it actually matters more than anything else, save our life. But, you object: surely money matters
more! Well, in that case why don’t I lock you inside a bank safe with one trillion dollars and
switch off the lights? Happy now?
The difference between money and freedom is that freedom must necessarily form an
intrinsic part of our lives – like oxygen. Freedom should be omni-present, without fuss, an
automatic authorisation to exist, an intrinsic part of each breath we breathe. Money, on the
other hand, is only a means. The rich man thinks that he needs a bed to sleep, but when he is
really sleepy he can readily sleep on the ground. The bed, clothes, house, are all optional. Life
and liberty, on the other hand, are priceless.
That we don’t think much (and deeply) about freedom is a mistake that can potentially cost
us our life. There is immense, unique and universal power in freedom – the power to do
whatever one wants to do, unhindered. This power exceeds the mystery and attraction of
romantic love, the beauty of the sunset, and the urgent necessity of air, water and food. Freedom
is the stuff that lets us be (and become) who we are. It must pervade unimpeded; it must
accompany us everywhere.
This is not a book but a political pamphlet – just like my earlier book, Breaking Free of
Nehru (BFN). It basically asks each of us to stop interfering in other’s lives, so that we can all
live happily ever after.
But interference is pervasive. Isaiah Berlin asked: ‘Why should anyone obey anyone else?’1
You and I ‘obey’ someone else at least at some point during our day. If nothing else, we obey the
traffic lights or traffic policeman.2 But why should we? Who stops us from driving wherever we

1 Berlin, Isaiah, Freedom and its Betrayal: Six Enemies of Human Liberty, London: Pimlico, Random House, 2003, p.1.
The essays were delivered initially as lectures in 1952 on the BBC.
2
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