The concept of freedom

History records various occasions where man strove hard to obtain \nfreedom, or to maintain what he already possessed of it. Every man \ndesires to be free though not all men agree about what constitutes freedom. \nToo often, freedom is attached to and influenced by political ideologies or \nreligious beliefs. \nWhen we ask: 'What is freedom?' we must bear in mind that this concept \nis predicated in different ways of beings of very different types. Many misunderstand \nthis concept as a 'free-for:-all' principle. Others reduce freedom \nto a choice between good and evil. Ethics, or moral philosophy, insists that \nhuman actions can only be so considered provided that such actions result \nfrom man's free will. At the same time, ethics goes into the problem of \nfreedom versus determinism. \nWhat do we mean by freedom? Two points may be very useful in discussing \nfreedom (a) freedom of choice: the ability to choose this or that, selecting \nfrom various objects/values; (b) freedom as constituting a basic right of \nman (e.g. the French Revolution sought to present freedom as such. This \ndoes not imply that freedom was not a fundamental human right before the \nAmerican or French Revolutions). This freedom covers the freedom of expression \n- to express reality as one sees it, the freedom of worship, and the \nfreedom to follow a particular career or state of life. It constitutes man's \nright to live out his life as he wants to.