1. Two Concepts of Liberty
Soraj Hongladarom
Department of Philosophy
Center for Ethics of Science and Technology
Faculty of Arts
Chulalongkorn University

2. 
Imagine you are driving a car through town, and you
come to a fork in the road. You turn left, but no one was
forcing you to go one way or the other. Next you come to
a crossroads. You turn right, but no one was preventing
you from going left or straight on. There is no traffic to
speak of and there are no diversions or police
roadblocks. So you seem, as a driver, to be completely
free.
From http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/#TwoConLib

3. 
But this picture of your situation might change quite
dramatically if we consider that the reason you went left
and then right is that you're addicted to cigarettes and
you're desperate to get to the tobacconists before it
closes. Rather than driving, you feel you are being driven,
as your urge to smoke leads you uncontrollably to turn
the wheel first to the left and then to the right.
From http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/#TwoConLib

4. 
Moreover, you're perfectly aware that your turning right at
the crossroads means you'll probably miss a train that
was to take you to an appointment you care about very
much. You long to be free of this irrational desire that is
not only threatening your longevity but is also stopping
you right now from doing what you think you ought to be
doing.
From http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberty-positive-negative/#TwoConLib

5. 
Spinoza – One is only free when one follows reason.

Mill – One is only free when there are no obstacles that
block one’s choices and action.

6. 
One might say that while on the first view liberty is simply
about how many doors are open to the agent, on the
second view it is more about going through the right
doors for the right reasons.

‘Negative’ liberty – absence of coercion, forces that
compel us to do this or that

‘Positive’ liberty – presence of something that gives us
control of our lives (self-mastery, self-realization)

7. 
‘Negative’ liberty – “What is the area within which the
subject — a person or group of persons — is or should
be left to do or be what he is able to do or be, without
interference by other persons?”

‘Positive’ liberty – “What, or who, is the source of control
or interference that can determine someone to do, or be,
this rather than that?”

Example – Nobody forces me to eat this or that, or not to
eat this or that. If I want to eat a lot of pizzas, I can do it.

Not eating a lot of pizzas will lead to my true self, my real
being. I will be completely free that way.

8. 
The two concepts of liberty or freedom point to a
fundamental question in political philosophy – Is it the
business of the State to promote well-being or self-
realization of its citizens, or is its business solely to let the
citizens choose whatever course of action they want to
do, eliminating any obstacles against the citizens’
choices?

Example – 1) Let the citizens do whatever they want with
minimal interference; 2) Promote the self-realization of
the citizens through active means.

9. 
Rousseau’s ‘General Will’ – people will achieve their
freedom only when they participate as citizens in the
democratic process

Government should also aim at creating conditions in
which citizens can realize their inner potential.

But for negative freedom, state should create conditions
where there are genuinely absences of conditions that
prevent citizens from doing whatever they choose to do.

10. Real Life Examples

Do we have freedom to smoke?
− Negative Liberty: Yes. We ourselves determine for
ourselves whether we should smoke or not.
Campaigns against smoking work because they lead
us to think for ourselves the advantages and
disadvantages of smoking. But in the end it is we
alone who make the decision.

11. 
Do we have the freedom to smoke?
− Positive Liberty – No. Because smoking leads you to
bad self-actualization. In fact it will likely lead to there
being no self on your part at all, because it will likely
cause your death.
− In order for you to realize your true freedom, the State
should have the authority to decide this for you. When
you are addicted to cigarettes, your judgment will be
clouded so you are actually not free.

12. Defending Free Speech

Mill – “In his famous essay he declares that unless the
individual is left to live as he wishes in ‘the part [of his
conduct] which merely concerns himself,’ civilisation
cannot advance; the truth will not, for lack of a free
market in ideas, come to light; there will be no scope for
spontaneity, originality, genius, for mental energy, for
moral courage. Society will be crushed by the weight of
‘collective mediocrity.’ Whatever is rich and diversified will
be crushed by the weight of custom, by men’s constant
tendency to conformity, which breeds only ‘withered
capacities,’ … (Berlin p. 185).

“We must preserve a minimum area of personal freedom
if we are not to ‘degrade or deny our nature’ (p. 184).

13. Criticisms
Negative liberty – shallow, lack of substance, no direction,
lead to immorality and lack of values
Positive liberty – tendency toward paternalism and
totalitarianism, individual becomes just part of the State
machine.

14. Thailand National Youth Policy
National youth policy is under Last official youth policy:
the responsibility of the
Education (9 years
Ministry of Social
compulsory)
Development and Human
Security Development of moral
character
Does not get much attention
from the government Preventation of AIDS
Most policies emphasize that Special help to youths living
youths be “good persons” under difficult condition
Sctivities to promote youths
with spicial talent.

15. Most other Thai youth policies do not deviate
from this trend.