Freedom is an illusion, and an easily manipulated one at that.
What is your opinion on this?
2007-03-19 06:58:58 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
I mean in the political sense.
2007-03-19 07:11:27 · update #1
My opinion on it is this:
No matter what you do within a government, you are still somehow enslaved to a single will. This will could be your human nature, your moral code, or fear. Fear is a very common thing within people, and is as an emotion very easily manipulated. People can use any of those things I listed to control you. Heck, you could even be controlled by love for them.
A ruler must control his people however, and this is ussually accomplished through the military and/or police force. Why don't you go out and murder that guy who hit your car? Because of either your moral code, or fear of the military.
In conclusion, I believe we are always held captive to something.
And don't say that your mind is free, it isn't. Because you can't easily change your moral code without breaking it first, and that requires a fairly major crack.
2007-03-19 09:36:09 · update #2
I don't think the problem here is so much freedom being an illusion, as to how much freedom are we willing to allow others to have in comparison to how much freedom we want for ourselves. It is easy to say we beleive in freedom of speech until people make racist comments. It is easy to say we support freedom of religion, until your neighbor sacrifices a goat.
On the same note, it is easy to justify taking away these freedoms for just a simple reasons as I have just said. But in a country where the majority decides what is allowable and what isn't, can you ever truely be free, without agreeing with the majority?
2007-03-19 14:05:10 · answer #1 · answered by tony n 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The main problem with freedom is that there are always sacrifices involved. In order to have the protections provided by a government, we have to sacrifice a certain degree of individual-level control over things. People who become jaded and conclude that "freedom is an illusion" are really those who expect the impossible- unlimited freedom and unlimited protection/aid at the same time.
I do not mean that the government of any country is always acting rightly when they limit freedoms or infringe on civil rights (the Patriot Act is an excellent example of such a violation), but part of being free is having the protections that we gain by sacrificing some freedoms. For example, I am more free to wander the streets in safety because the law punishes those who assault others, but I have to pay taxes for that protection. There is always a balance, and there will never be a balance in which every person is satisfied that the balance is correct.
2007-03-19 14:17:24 · answer #2 · answered by IQ 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Freedom is not illusion . But the thought of getting freedom is an illusion . Because no one is in need of getting freedom . All are always free at all time . It is only our thought which makes us tied .
2007-03-19 14:06:33 · answer #3 · answered by subra 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Freedom is not an illusion. It is reality which some minds cannot grasp. Ask someone who has been in prison for years for a crime he did not commit, and ask him about freedom. The only place we have real freedom is in our minds, that is the one place that no one can shackle.
2007-03-19 14:07:44 · answer #4 · answered by Alfie333 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The possibility of illusion is itself a freedom. Ths possibility of manipulation is another. Straight-on causal determinacy contains neither.
___Begin with this, and expand on it.
___Hume's skepticism begins with the observation that causality is not directly observable, so the determinacy that is the negation of freedom is itself uncertain.
___You'll have to go beyond the conventional examination of these concepts if you want to make any headway with them.
2007-03-19 14:41:10 · answer #5 · answered by G-zilla 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that freedom can be attained but many things that we see as desireable are mutually exclusive to freedom, material possessions and the like.
2007-03-19 16:02:03 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Freedom is being true to one supreme value. Enslavement is compromise due to not being honest about the value one does hold sub-consciously.
2007-03-19 15:02:30 · answer #7 · answered by Real Friend 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Agreed. But then freedom is a feeling, and all feelings can be manipulated.
2007-03-19 14:04:07 · answer #8 · answered by KidBao 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no i,m not agree! freedom exsist!
it happens at ur mind and it is inside u ,u r free when u be free of urself,when nothing bound u specially ur thoughts and believes
2007-03-19 14:14:57 · answer #9 · answered by Nasim 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I say freedom is what is say it is. You have the right to think and act the way you choose.
2007-03-19 14:04:00 · answer #10 · answered by momof3 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋