Alexander Liss
Any parent faces at some point a discussion
about limits imposed by parents on freedom of their children. Hence, the
question of what is Freedom is far from being purely theoretical.
Some of those, who challenge an existing
political system, call themselves Anarchists. They assume that there is a
natural order, which emerges, when an existing unfair and unnatural order is
destroyed. Hence, they assert, the only thing, which is needed, is destruction
of an existing order, and there is no such danger as "too much
destruction".
It seems that Anarchists have too much
trust in order, maybe because they grew up in very orderly society. Experience
shows, that an order, which rises up "naturally" is quite ugly and
based on force. In such society, people do not acquire more freedom, they have
less freedom.
Hence, increasing of freedom is not the
same as destruction of existing limitations. Indiscriminate destruction of
limitations most likely leads to Chaos.
The other observation
deals with growing children. While they are small, they should not make
decisions in some areas, because wrong decisions could be too costly or
dangerous. When they grow up and understand what they are doing and are responsible
for their actions, they start making decisions on their own.
It does not make much sense to provide an
exact definition of Freedom. However, from what is said above, one could
roughly define Freedom as having a possibility to make decisions, when one is
ready to make them. Because no one knows when one is ready, one has to prove
one's readiness. Thus, Freedom is rather a process of perpetual expending of
one's control in one's area.