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Philosophy vocabulary · Political Philosophy

Liberty

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˈlɪbəti/nounCore term

In philosophy, liberty means: The condition of being free to act and choose without unjustified interference, especially from the state or from other people.

In Turkish: özgürlük, hürriyet

How it is used

In political philosophy liberty and freedom are mostly interchangeable, though liberty sounds more formal. Isaiah Berlin's distinction between negative liberty (freedom from interference) and positive liberty (self-mastery) is standard. Mill's On Liberty (1859) is a key text.

Example sentences

  1. Mill argued that the only good reason to limit someone's liberty is to prevent harm to others.

  2. Berlin warned that appeals to positive liberty can be used to justify coercion.

Common collocations

  • negative liberty
  • positive liberty
  • individual liberty
  • civil liberties
  • restrict liberty
  • natural rightsRights that people are thought to have simply by being human, before and independently of any law or government.
  • liberalismA tradition in political philosophy that puts individual liberty, equal rights and limits on state power at the center of political life.
  • justiceThe fair and proper treatment of people, especially in how a society distributes rights, duties, goods and punishments.
  • free willThe ability to choose between different possible actions in a way that makes us genuinely responsible for what we do.

More terms: Political Philosophy

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