Compare the implications of negative and positive freedom for the Essay

Compare the implications of negative and positive freedom for the relationship between the individual and the state - Essay Example It is also widely claimed to pertain to exemption from the arbitrary exercise of authority in the performance of a specific action and the capacity to exercise choice. Out of this freedom comes a consideration whether to be free from authority or external governing forces or from the inner command which is rather controlled by oneself. In a situation where an individual is able to act freely under circumstances when elements of state, unless for the purpose of granting security, may not interfere with freedom, in terms for instance of speech, religious choice, self-expression, and of general learning which are all taken into account by the so-called negative liberty. Restrictions in this sense of negative freedom would thus necessarily be derived from the outside since a person for this case is assumed capable of executing an action by instinct or nature beyond any internal inhibitions. On the contrary, positive liberty is a consequence of freedom from boundaries set by convention in a society which establishes a standard norm that must be adhered to collectively or by the number of people making up a society of particular social structure. This mode of liberty is characteristic of an introspective condition and would not afford even a slightest resistance to implementation of freewill. Though one may feel free to participate in assimilation yet finds discomfort in the idea of conformity to a dominant group which supports advocacy for certain ideology, cultural belief, or a complex sociological framework which embeds inevitable division by race, sex, or class, freedom would not have a complete sense of positive identity for such an involved person. Commitment to liberty in this picture ought to be relieved of coercion and should, by all means, originate based upon sole discretion of freewill instead. Freedom in its positive trait further