{"id":1391,"date":"2022-04-26T14:32:20","date_gmt":"2022-04-26T03:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/?p=1391"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:08:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:08:20","slug":"liberty-as-the-sum-of-all-freedoms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/liberty-as-the-sum-of-all-freedoms\/","title":{"rendered":"Liberty as the Sum of All Freedoms"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Note<\/strong>: This is an updated version of \u201cThe Key Ideas of Classical Liberalism: Foundations, Processes, Liberties\u201d (23 June 2015) here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

[Note<\/strong>: This post is part of a series<\/a> on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition]<\/p>\n

In a recent post I discussed the \u201cends\u201d that CLs sought and \u201cthe means\u201d which they believed would help them achieve these ends. [See \u201cWhat CLs were For \u2013 Part 2: Ends and Means\u201d (19 Oct., 2021) here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n

Another way to approach the question of what CLs believed is to think of \u201cLiberty\u201d (with a capital \u201cL\u201d) as a “bundle” or “cluster” of smaller or partial freedoms or \u201cliberties\u201d (with a lower case \u201cl\u201d) which together make up what is “Liberty\u201d. The following quote comes from Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Bastiat\u2019s essay \u201cThe Law\u201d (June 1850). It should be noted that English has two word for \u201cfreedom\u201d – a Germanic one \u201cfreedom\u201d (die Freiheit) and a Latin one (via the French) \u201cliberty\u201d (libertas). I have used both to make the point I think Bastiat is trying to make clearer:<\/p>\n

\n[French original] – Et qu\u2019est-ce que la Libert\u00e9, ce mot qui a la puissance de faire battre tous les c\u0153urs et d\u2019agiter le monde, si ce n\u2019est l\u2019ensemble de toutes les libert\u00e9s, libert\u00e9 de conscience, d\u2019enseignement, d\u2019association, de presse, de locomotion, de travail, d\u2019\u00e9change; d\u2019autres termes, le franc exercice, pour tous, de toutes les facult\u00e9s inoffensives; en d\u2019autres termes encore, la destruction de tous les despotismes, m\u00eame le despotisme l\u00e9gal, et la r\u00e9duction de la Loi \u00e0 sa seule attribution rationnelle, qui est de r\u00e9gulariser le Droit individuel de l\u00e9gitime d\u00e9fense ou de r\u00e9primer l\u2019injustice.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n[my revised translation 13 Aug. 2021] – And what is \u201cLiberty,\u201d this word that has the power of making all hearts beat faster and of moving the entire world, if it is not the sum of all freedoms? \u2014 freedom of conscience, teaching, and association, freedom of the press, freedom to travel, work, and trade, in other words, the free exercise by all people of all their non-aggressive abilities. And, in still other terms, isn\u2019t freedom the destruction of all despotic regimes, even legal despotism, and the limiting of the law to its sole rational function which is to regulate the individual\u2019s right of legitimate self defense and to prevent injustice?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The following \u201cconcept map\u201d is an attempt to show the relationship between the four main components of \u201cLiberty\u201d, namely personal freedoms, economic freedoms, political freedoms, and legal freedoms.<\/p>\n

The overview:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

See a larger version of this image<\/a>.<\/p>\n

1. Personal Freedoms<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Personal freedoms:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. right to live one\u2019s own life as one sees fit<\/li>\n
  2. right to engage in \u201cacts between consenting adults\u201d<\/li>\n
  3. right to buy, sell, ingest drugs, alcohol, etc.<\/li>\n
  4. right to buy, sell, view any \u201cprinted matter\u201d<\/li>\n
  5. right to form a marriage, household, family, or any other kind of domestic arrangement<\/li>\n
  6. recognition that one\u2019s \u201chome is one\u2019s castle\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    2. Economic Freedoms<\/strong><\/p>\n

    <\/p>\n

    Economic freedoms:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The right to enter any trade or profession<\/li>\n
    2. The right to set up a business, partnership, etc.<\/li>\n
    3. Free markets and prices<\/li>\n
    4. The right to make a profit (loss), charge interest, rent<\/li>\n
    5. Free trade & exchange (domestic and foreign)<\/li>\n
    6. Free movement goods, money, and people<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      3. Political Freedoms<\/strong><\/p>\n

      <\/p>\n

      Political freedoms:<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. Right to remove an abusive\/repressive government<\/li>\n
      2. Consent of the Governed (free, open, periodic elections)<\/li>\n
      3. Government limited by a Constitution & Bill of Rights<\/li>\n
      4. Freedom of speech, print, association<\/li>\n
      5. Right of free movement within the state, or to leave\/enter the state<\/li>\n
      6. Right to form a political party, stand for election, vote<\/li>\n
      7. Free co-existence with other peoples\/nations<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        4. Legal Freedoms<\/strong><\/p>\n

        <\/p>\n

        Legal freedoms:<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. Rule of (just) law<\/li>\n
        2. Equality under the law<\/li>\n
        3. Independent judiciary<\/li>\n
        4. Right to \u201cdue process\u201d – Habeas corpus, speedy trial<\/li>\n
        5. Protection of private property & contracts<\/li>\n
        6. Arbitration of disputes (private and public)<\/li>\n
        7. Right to compensation for harm (tort law)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

          [Note: This is an updated version of \u201cThe Key Ideas of Classical Liberalism: Foundations, Processes, Liberties\u201d (23 June 2015) here.] [Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] In a recent post I discussed the \u201cends\u201d that CLs sought and \u201cthe means\u201d which they believed would help … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tradition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1391"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204005,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1391\/revisions\/204005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}