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Single Idea 21015

[filed under theme 25. Social Practice / A. Freedoms / 5. Freedom of lifestyle ]

Full Idea

The very idea of 'negative liberty' ...is an incoherent idea: all liberties are positive, meaning liberties to do or to be something, which all require the inhibition of interference by others.

Gist of Idea

Negative liberty is incoherent; all liberties, to do and to be, require the prevention of interference

Source

Martha Nussbaum (Creating Capabilities [2011], 3)

Book Ref

Nussbaum,Martha C.: 'Creating Capabilities' [Belknap Harvard 2013], p.65

A Reaction

This rejects Isaiah Berlin's well-known claim that negative liberties are good, but positive liberties are far too dangerous.

The 19 ideas from 'Creating Capabilities'

21007 Storytelling is never neutral; some features of the world must be emphasised [Nussbaum]
21009 Capabilities: Life, Health, Safety, Mental life, Love, Planning, Joining in, Nature, Play, Control [Nussbaum, by PG]
21010 Justice requires that the ten main capabilities of people are reasonably enabled [Nussbaum]
21008 Liberalism does not need a comprehensive account of value [Nussbaum]
21011 We shouldn't focus on actual preferences, which may be distorted by injustices [Nussbaum]
21012 Women are often treated like children, and not respected for their choices [Nussbaum]
21015 Negative liberty is incoherent; all liberties, to do and to be, require the prevention of interference [Nussbaum]
21013 Capabilities are grounded in bare humanity and agency; qualifying as rational is not needed [Nussbaum]
21014 Rights are not just barriers against state interference; governments must affirm capabilities of citizens [Nussbaum]
21016 Political and civil rights are not separate from economic and social rights [Nussbaum]
21019 Social contracts assume equal powers among the participants [Nussbaum]
21020 Any establishment belief system is incompatible with full respect for all citizens [Nussbaum]
21017 Political freedom is an incoherent project, because some freedoms limit other freedoms [Nussbaum]
21022 The Capabilities Approach sees animals as agents, not just as having feelings [Nussbaum]
21021 Keep premises as weak as possible, to avoid controversial difficulties [Nussbaum]
21025 Particularism gives no guidance for the future [Nussbaum]
21023 We should respect animals in the way that we respect the animal nature in humans [Nussbaum]
21024 It may be no harm to kill an animal which cannot plan for its future [Nussbaum]
21026 Compassion is unreliable, because it favours people close to us [Nussbaum]