The cunning of freedom : saving the self in an age of false idols / Ryszard Legutko.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Legutko, Ryszard, 1949- author.

Contributor:

EBSCOhost.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberty--Philosophy.

Liberty.

Self (Philosophy).

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Edition:

First American edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Encounter Books, 2021.

System Details:

text file

Summary:

This book has two currents. The first is an analysis of the three concepts of freedom that are called, respectively, negative, positive, and inner. Negative freedom is defined as an absence of coercion, positive freedom as an ability to rule oneself and others, inner freedom as being oneself; that is, being the author of one's decisions. Each concept is analyzed both in terms of its development in the history of ideas and in terms of its internal logic. The major problem of negative freedom is to find widely accepted rules according to which this freedom can be distributed. Positive freedom's major difficulty is to define what constitutes a free person. The greatest dilemma with inner freedom is how to correlate it with the proper interpretation of the human self. The book advances the thesis, and this constitutes the other current of its narrative--that we have been witnessing the advent of a new form of despotism, much of it being the effect of liberalism's dominant position. Precisely because it took a reductionist position, liberalism has impoverished our view of freedom and, consequently, our notion of human nature with its political, moral, and metaphysical dimensions.

Contents:

Part 1 Negative Freedom

1 On Negative Freedom p. 7

2 The Wretched World of Absolute Freedom p. 11

3 Maximum Freedom p. 15

4 Freedom from Tyranny p. 39

Part 2 Positive Freedom

5 On Positive Freedom p. 59

6 The Philosopher p. 63

7 The Entrepreneur p. 73

8 The Artist p. 83

9 The Aristocrat p. 97

Part 3 Inner Freedom

10 On Inner Freedom p. 113

11 The Nonexistent Self p. 119

12 The Minimal Self p. 133

13 A Strong Concept of Self p. 151.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Electronic reproduction. Ipswich, MA Available via World Wide Web.

Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on July 20, 2021).

Other Format:

Print version: Legutko, Ryszard, 1949- The cunning of freedom

ISBN:

9781641771382

1641771380

Publisher Number:

40030631371

Access Restriction:

Restricted for use by site license.