Freedom Negative and Positive Conceptions Routledge Library Editions: Free Will and Determinism Series

Isaiah Berlin made a now classic distinction between negative and positive conceptions of freedom. This book, first published in 2005, introduces a fresh way of looking at these conceptions and presents a new defence of the positive conception of freedom. Revealing how the internal debate between various versions of negative freedom give rise to hybrid conceptions of freedom which in turn are superseded by various versions of the positive conception of freedom, Silier concludes that Marx?s concrete historical account of positive freedom resolves many of the key debates in this area and provides a fruitful framework to evaluate the freedoms and unfreedoms that are specific to capitalism.

Part 1. The Negative Conception of Freedom 1. Hayek’s Notion of Freedom 2. Constraints on Freedom 3. Fee Action, Free Person and Free Society 4. Limits of Negative Freedom in Capitalism 5. The Hybrid View Part 2. The Positive Conception of Freedom 6. Green’s Notion of Freedom 7. Kant on Rational Self-Determination 8. Hegel on Concrete Freedom 9. Communitarians on the Social Context of Freedom 10. Freedom as the Power for Self-Determination 11. The Historical Account: Freedoms and Unfreedoms in Capitalism