Reconceiving freedom from the shadows of slavery : liberty in a non-ideal world / John Christman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Christman, John Philip, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Liberty.

Slavery.

Social values.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (ix, 255 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2025.

Summary:

In a departure from standard approaches to the concept of liberty, in this book John Christman locates and defends the concept of freedom as a fundamental social value that arose out of fights against slavery and oppression. Seen in this light, liberty must be understood as requiring more than mere non-interference or non-domination - it requires the capacity for self-government and the capabilities needed to pursue valued activities, practices, and ways of life. Christman analyses the emergence of freedom as a concept through nineteenth- and twentieth-century struggles against slavery and other oppressive social forms, and argues that a specifically positive conception best reflects its origins and is philosophically defensible in its own right. What results is a model of freedom that captures its fundamental value both as central to the theoretical architecture of constitutional democracies and as an aspiration for those striving for liberation.

Contents:

Theorizing freedom in the non-ideal world

Lessons from slavery

From history to philosophy

Freedom and social practices

Freedom and capabilities

Self-government

Social recognition

Freedom, value, justice

Conclusion : liberty, democracy, and the persistence of unfreedom

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 10 Jan 2025).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781009440189

1009440187

9781009440196

1009440195

9781009440219

1009440217