In this blog post, we will reinterpret the meaning of freedom through the concepts of passive and active bondage, and reflect on what true freedom is.
A philosophical consideration of the relationship between freedom and bondage
It is often said that there are two forms of freedom. One is active and positive freedom, which is the freedom to do what one wants, and the other is passive freedom, which is the freedom from obstacles that prevent one from doing what one wants. This dichotomous distinction is generally based on the view that active freedom is unrelated to the concept of bondage and that only passive freedom can be explained through the concept of bondage. However, this approach can be criticized by analyzing the concept of “bondage” more precisely.
Types of bondage: active/passive, internal/external
The bondage we experience in our daily lives can be divided into two categories based on two criteria. One is active bondage and passive bondage, and the other is internal bondage and external bondage. These two axes intersect and can be expanded into four categories. Active bondage refers to cases where an existing factor hinders one’s actions. Examples include threats, interference, and physical restraint. Passive bondage, on the other hand, refers to situations where one cannot achieve what one wants because something is “missing.” Examples include a lack of money, power, skills, or knowledge, which are passive in the sense that they are absent. On the other hand, the distinction between internal and external constraints depends on how the boundaries of the self are defined. If the self is limited to a narrow scope, such as conscience or reason, most constraints must be considered external. For a practical distinction that can be applied to reality, it is desirable to divide the self and the outside world based on spatial criteria. In this case, external constraints are factors that come from outside the mind and body, and all obstacles that originate from within the mind and body, such as headaches, muscle pain, impulses, and desires, can be considered internal constraints.
The nature of freedom and the expansion of the concept of constraints
Based on this distinction, if we look at the concept of freedom again, freedom from passive constraints means escaping from a state in which one is unable to do what one wants to do due to some “decisive deficiency.” In other words, passive freedom is the freedom that is secured when the conditions for realizing a predetermined action exist, which means the existence of feasibility. When these conditions are external, they are called opportunities, and when they are internal, they are called abilities. However, the absence of all conditions does not necessarily mean passive bondage. What is important is whether the absence of those conditions is significant to the individual. Furthermore, natural incapacities or the absence of impossible desires cannot be considered bondage. For example, the fact that humans cannot fly or the lack of a non-existent ability are physical limitations, not a lack of freedom.
Logical review through examples
If we consider only positive factors to be constraints, then a person living in extreme poverty who wants to own a luxury car must be said to be free in terms of that desire because there are no positive obstacles preventing him from fulfilling it. However, this is clearly a wrong judgment. He is not merely free from positive constraints, but rather has a negative constraint in the form of “money.” Similarly, if we limit bondage to external factors, we would have to say that a person who cannot go to work due to a high fever is free because there are no external obstacles. However, in reality, he cannot go to work because of his internal state, that is, internal bondage in the form of physical pain, and this should also be understood as a lack of freedom. Therefore, if we recognize both passive and internal constraints, we can explain both positive and negative freedom through the concept of constraints.
Logical definition of freedom and constraints
In summary, if there is nothing preventing me from doing X, then I have the freedom to do X. Conversely, if I have the freedom to do X, nothing can prevent me from doing X. This definition shows that the concepts of freedom and bondage are logically contradictory. In other words, if there is no bondage, there is freedom, and if there is freedom, there is no bondage.
