The practice of freedom

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Freedom has a history Freedom is one of the most intractable philosophical problems in the Western philosophical tradition. Indeed, there is a way in which the history of Western philosophy can be written in terms of the different attempts that have been made to define freedom. The history of ethics, without question, has been determined by how freedom has been defined. In the West, since the ancient Greeks, what we take to be human, or rather, the humanity of humans, has been defined in terms of freedom. Humans are free animals, the argument goes, whereas other animals are unfree because they are determined by instinct.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationMichel Foucault
Subtitle of host publicationKey Concepts
PublisherAcumen Publishing Limited
Pages111-124
Number of pages14
ISBN (Electronic)9781844654734
ISBN (Print)9781844652341
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Arts and Humanities

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