tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638402958079714573.post1107546482573138719..comments2011-04-19T16:06:39.581-05:00Comments on Humanism and Human Rights: Bentham on LibertyDoctor Jhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13189506916480012553noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5638402958079714573.post-70461682737340240522011-01-23T20:03:26.722-06:002011-01-23T20:03:26.722-06:00I agree that the term ‘liberty’ is an extremely im...I agree that the term ‘liberty’ is an extremely important as well as an extremely ambiguous concept given our discussion of human rights. You seem to choose a definition of liberty as: “freedom from foreign or external rule” as the intentional definition of the Declaration of Rights. However, I would offer a more Kantian definition that defines liberty as a freedom of the will that allows an agent to give oneself the moral law. Which definition should we choose? I would argue that as philosophers, it is our job to not simply look up dictionary definitions of terms, but to offer justification for our own definition and critique the definitions of others. Your definition seems too narrow. Simply not being coerced into doing something does not mean you have a kind of liberty. We are always already constrained by the external rule of gravity, does this mean that we never have liberty? Given my more Kantian definition, our free choices are always somewhat constrained, but as long as we are constraining ourselves, we have a kind of self direction. Gravity constrains us, but we are still free to choice how we react to this constraint.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09568816169912312279noreply@blogger.com