Freedom seems like a straightforward and common concept, with so many people pursuing it, either explicitly or implicitly, that its meaning is rarely examined. But in fact, many people have such a poor understanding of it that I think a clarification is needed. What do we mean by “freedom”? Is it desirable? Is it achievable? If yes, then how can we achieve it?
Before attempting to answer those questions, there are a few points I want to clarify. First, the following view is biased from a human point of view. I am only proposing what I think to be a general concept that could be accepted by most people, with a human structure of mind and human capability of thinking and reasoning. I am not going to propose a universal concept, accepted by every species or machines with a different way of thinking. In fact, they might not have a concept of freedom or even something as a concept. Second, I have no intention of forcing my view of what is good and what is bad on other people. Everyone can pursue any goal they want, be it freedom or a balanced way of life, whatever balanced means, as long as they are happy with it. I only think that a clear concept of freedom is fruitful for people pursuing it, so that they can either pursue it better, or simply give it up because it is undesirable for them or out of their reach.
To begin with, what does “free” mean? A common definition of it is “able to do what one wants or desires”. But this is a very narrow concept of freedom, because in many cases, a desire is influenced by many factors outside of one’s control. Therefore, trying to satisfy such a desire is hardly free at all. Let’s illustrate this point by a thought experiment. Let’s say someone has me take a drug to increase my appetite, without me being aware of it. Then I would have a strong desire for food. From my point of view, I am free to eat as much as I want, without anyone forcing me to. But most people would agree that under the influence of a drug, my appetite and my ability to satisfy do not constitute freedom. There arises the need for a different definition of freedom: “having the ability to choose among different options what is desirable to pursue”. Coming back to our thought experiment, if I somehow know that I am under the influence of a drug, and at the same time know that I have the option to either eat or not eat, then no matter which choice I make, I am free to make such a choice. This kind of freedom is much more desirable than the previous one, because unlike a puppet acting without being aware of the strings attached to it, I am acting out of my own free will, responsible for my own choice.*
A question would now form in the mind of the attentive readers: how can we find out which options are available? How to know what factors are influencing us, so that we deliberate about what is desirable? Unlike the previous simple example, real life choices are much more complex, and usually involve more than two options. And we are often under various influences, ranging from background, cultural to instinctive, biological ones. It is impossible to know about all the available options, especially the ones that we don’t even think about. It is equally impossible to know about all the influences affecting our choice. As a result, freedom in the absolute sense is not attainable. So, should we just give up in our quest for freedom? Not necessarily so. Even though absolute freedom is out of our reach, relative freedom is achievable. By relative freedom, what I mean is that, regarding the same matter, a choice is freer than another choice if it considers more options and takes into account more influencing factors. For example, we can say with confidence that a person who travels around, posting every picture taken along the way, and, without any understanding or awareness, amplifies the cultural bias of consumerism and the technological bias of social media, is of several degrees less free than someone with such understanding and awareness, who exercises his reasoning to decide whether doing such things is desirable.
From the above examination, it should be quite obvious that, to achieve a higher level of freedom, expanding one’s knowledge is critical. By knowledge, I mean the broad sense of the word: not only secondary knowledge gained from books or heard from others, but also direct experience from real life and practice, deepened by reflections, condensed into wisdom. To know is to have a wide range of possibilities to choose from, to see through the different conflicting impulses and their roots, to rise above prejudices and biases, and to make the most out of one’s capability to make free choice.
*NOTES, 9 JUNE 2023
Thinking more about the subject, I would rather not to call those 2 as different definitions of freedom, but different aspects of it: “free to act” and “free to choose”. I still maintain my view that freedom of choice is the most important aspect, the reasons are stated above. But freedom of action is also important, as it turns the things that we consider desirable into reality, further enhance our knowledge, experience, and our ability to make better choice.