Liberty

Capability theorists disagree on how to determine, for normative purposes, which capabilities are to be treated as basic, with Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen taking opposite views. This paper will scrutinize this list debate. It has two aims. First, it argues that some distinction between basic and non-basic capabilities is an inherent commitment of capability theories, but that there are many more options for responding to the capability-selection problem than a procedure of democratic deliberation (Sen) or a philosophical criterion of neo-Aristotelian flourishing (Nussbaum). A whole range of possible procedures and philosophical criteria could be combined with the capability metric. Second, it responds to a forceful challenge raised by Ian Crater, who argues that capability theorists should not endorse the selection of specific capabilities as basic (either democratically or philosophically) at all. In his view this will always have paternalistic implications; instead he proposes that the maximization of 'capability as such' should be the goal. In response I distinguish wellbeing-based and autonomy-based capability theories, and argue that while Carter's challenge is valid against the former, it fails against the latter.

Dr. Hugh Brody (29th October, 2013) - The other side of Eden. The Ecology, Cosmos and Consciousness Salon, The Institute of Ecotechnics, October Gallery, Bloomsbury, London. (Host)

For tens of thousands of years, over 90% of our life as humans, we lived as hunter-gatherers. Since the rise of agriculture and city-dwelling, this way of life has been devastated and marginalized. As our own way of life faces mounting challenges, studying foraging cultures provides precious perspective - and further highlights the importance of helping living foragers reclaim and defend their land and culture. Tonight, renowned anthropologist and filmmaker Hugh Brody will discuss his 40-year career studying, living with, and fighting for hunter-gatherer peoples, and how these cultures raise huge issues relevant to us all.

In May 1899, the town of Como inaugurated an universal exhibition organized for the centenary of the invention of the battery by Alessandro Volta. The exhibition, set up in honour and celebration of an illustrious citizen of Como, was not focused on electricity alone, but also on decorative arts and the silk and furniture industry, including a special section of artistic objects from the territories of the Diocese of Como curated by Santo Monti, author a few years later of a pioneering study on the arts in Northwestern Lombardy. The operation resonated with national and international press: a congress of electricians was presented at the exhibition, anticipating the famous international symposium of physics that would be held in Como in 1927 with the participation of, among others, Fermi, Marconi and many Nobel prizes in a changed political and cultural context. The exhibition halls, designed by engineer Eugenio Linati, occupied much of the area then destined to become a public garden, on which the first museum dedicated to Volta's work, the Tempio Voltiano, was founded in 1928. The exhibition architectures were characterized by a magniloquent style in a fusion of classical, allegorical , eclectic elements, in order to provide a valuable framework for the public rituals of the inauguration in presence of King Umberto I and Queen Margherita. Mostly destroyed by a fire, from which the hall of Belle Arti survived, the exhibition buildings were quickly reconstructed and reassembled. This paper explores the multiple aspects of the great exhibition, from the architecture of buildings to the media propaganda (posters, periodicals, etc.) and investigates the connection between the promotion of historical and artistic studies on the territory, the heritage preservation, the decorative and industrial arts ranging from the eclectic style to Art Nouveau.

Existential brain research investigates different parts of human's life including issues of freedom and self-comprehension, which are of the specific significance. The paper presents the investigation of key parts of individual freedom and selfcomprehension and spotlights on how these two marvels are interconnected as far as existential brain research. The accompanying viewpoints were validated: selfinformation, as the way toward getting oneself, one's own mental activities and states of mind, turns into the reason for the advancement of self-comprehension from the snapshot of entering the time of pre-adulthood; self-comprehension is coordinated into the structure of self-reflection; self-comprehension suggests the accomplishment of another implication of existential self-information got during self-investigation; interconnection of freedom and self-understanding cultivates the high pace of both mental and physical action of a subject, just as their capacity to change themselves, right now satisfy themselves and sort out their own future. Inventive work can fill in as an instrument that opens new abilities and individual characteristics, guarantee one's freedom to communicate for oneself and increment self-comprehension. Selfunderstanding helps with satisfying one's own credibility on the planet: an individual acknowledges themselves as they seem to be, in the mean time changing themselves as far as their life purposes and as per their actual nature (securing of inward freedom)

SOMMARIO: 1. La dignità è ancora d’attualità? – 2. Le due facce della dignità –
3. Nuovi e vecchi rischi per l’homo dignus. – 4. Ottimismo e speranze dell’homo
dignus all’epoca del post-umano.

Abstract
In the post-human time, the question of dignity and its relations with
“freedom and equality” arises, from new perspectives, with renewed interest: is the dignity still topical?

Nell’epoca del post-umano la questione della dignità e dei suoi rapporti
con “libertà e uguaglianza”, si ripropone da nuove prospettive con
rinnovato interesse: è ancora di attualità il tema della dignità?

Moderni valstybė politikos filosofijoje (ypač klasikinio liberalizmo tradicijoje, bet ne tik joje) dažnai suprantama kaip individo laisvę ribojanti jėga, o ne kaip laisvės šaltinis. Nors jau intuityviai skirtumas tarp individo ir valstybės yra akivaizdus, vis dėlto opozicija tarp laisvės ir valstybės, kaip sugestijuoja Lietuvos istorinė patirtis, yra klaidinga ar bent įtartina. Čia galima įžvelgti prieštarą tarp skirtingų laisvių, tačiau ar ši prieštara tikrai yra būtina ar neišvengiama? Tarsi akivaizdu, kad be savos valstybės būtų gerokai problemiškiau svarstyti ir apie laisvę individualiu lygmeniu, jos siekti politinėmis, demokratinėmis priemonėmis. Tad švęsdami laisvę valstybėje, o ne nuo valstybės, akivaizdžiai susiduriame su politinės laisvės daugiaprasmiškumu. Ir tai visų pirma sąvokinė problema. Savo garsiojoje esė "Dvi laisvės sąvokos", kuri visų pirma nuskambėjo 1958 m. Oksforde kaip inauguracinė profesoriaus kalba, Isaiah Berlinas (1909-1997) glaustai ir sistemiškai apžvelgė esmines laisvės sampratos skirtis Vakarų politinės minties istorijoje: visų pirma tarp negatyvios (kaip laisvės nuo ko nors, t. y. išorinių trikdžių) ir pozityvios laisvės (laisvė save determinuoti ir siekti savo gėrio,-ne tik kaip teorinė galimybė, bet ir kaip praktinis galėjimas). Turbūt vien šio jo teksto būtų pakakę Berlinui patekti į XX a. politinės filosofijos auk-so fondą. Rygoje gimęs, Anglijoje intelektualiai subren-dęs filosofas save laikė liberaliosios minties teoretiku ir jis neabejotinai ženkliai prisidėjo, kad politinė mintis sugrįžtų į anglosaksiškosios filosofijos diskursą. Vis dėlto paties Berlino pozicija laisvės sampratų atžvilgiu dažnai regima labai supaprastintai, jis būna net-gi pavadinamas šių sampratų kūrėju ar bent atradėju. Dar dažniau Berlinas pristatomas vien kaip pozityvios laisvės kritikas ir negatyvios laisvės gynėjas. Šiame tekste kaip tik bus mėginama tokius supaprastinimus užklausti laikantis pozicijos, jog abi laisvės sampratos būtinos viena kitai egzistuoti ir sėkmingai funkcionuoti (net jei praktikoje ir ideologinėse kovose dažnai ir kon-kuruoja), o problemos politiniame gyvenime kyla kaip tik pernelyg nusveriant laisvės sampratą į vieną kurią pusę. Kartu tikimasi, jog Berlino analitinis sąvokų tyrimas ir jo teksto skaitymas atskleis šį bei tą apie patį dalyką.

This chapter executes a reading of the character of Walter White / Heisenberg ('Breaking Bad') through John Stuart Mill's 'On Liberty'.  This chapter pays attention to issues related to Mill's harm principle, freedom, individuality, individual sovereignty, individual spontaneity, collective mediocrity, authority, the tyranny of the majority, legislated morality, justice, and punishment.

Nella seconda metà del XVIII secolo questa bella cittadina romagnola divenne uno dei più importanti centri del Neoclassicismo italiano e lo stesso Antonio Paolucci, direttore dei musei vaticani ed importante critico d'arte, indica il periodo compreso fra il 1780 ed il 1815 come il momento più alto della storia artistica faentina, sottolineando che, in quegli anni, “la città romagnola dialogava con il mondo”.
Erano infatti vivi ed attivi i collegamenti con la cultura neoclassica romana e con la Parigi rivoluzionaria e napoleonica e le ricche famiglie faentine facevano a gara nell'erigere i palazzi più belli che, sempre a giudizio del prof Paolucci, “sono quanto di più squisito la civiltà neoclassica abbia prodotto in Europa”.

... These are legitimate in themselves, representing pre-political individuality, political equality being a mere corrective complement to them. ... It will alert to social difference by realising a political association through publicity of government and consul-tation of the citizens (1794 ...

La questione dell’autorità, tema classico delle filosofie dell’educazione, del diritto e della politica, non pare aver trovato altrettanta attenzione da parte della filosofia morale. Tale difetto di interesse potrebbe avere a che fare con un certo sospetto che la nozione tradizionalmente suscita, sospetto riconducibile a una presunta alternativa tra l’autorità e la libertà: quanto più è forte e solida la prima, tanto meno lo sarebbe la seconda. Si tratta di un’alternativa legata a un appiattimento dei due termini sulla loro configurazione formale e politica, per cui la libertà si presenta come un dato, e dunque un diritto, originario e immediato. Dal punto di vista sostanziale, sostiene Stefano Biancu in La genealogia dell'umano, la libertà ha una sua genealogia: si sviluppa e matura nel tempo, grazie anche a mediazioni esteriori, simbolicamente istituite, le quali assumono per il soggetto e per la collettività la figura dell’autorità. Autorità è ciò che genera libertà e umanità: questa è la conclusione a cui giunge un secolo di studi sul tema, ma è anche l’intuizione fondamentale di una peculiare filosofia italiana dell’autorità che, iniziata da Vico nel XVIII secolo, conosce significative riprese nel XX secolo e apre prospettive future in vista di un’antropologia e di un’etica dell’autorità.

In this article, I examine how nudging powered by Big Data relates to both negative and positive liberty. I focus in particular on how liberty is affected by appeals to irrational mechanisms. I conclude that it is problematic to use liberty as an argument for nudging. Such an argument would have to be based on the concept of positive liberty, empowerment and emancipation from irrationality, but I argue that even stronger arguments against nudging can be built on the same conception of liberty. I consider Big Data-powered nudging to have the potential to be both manipulative and coercive, and believe that we should be wary of the effects such efforts have on liberty. As I consider liberty to be part of what makes a good society, this becomes an effort to analyse one aspect of the effects of technology on society in general. While I do not accept arguments in favour of nudging based on liberty, it is easier to see that arguments based on utility could support nudging. I do not evaluate what the proper trade-off is between utility and liberty in this article, and it is obvious that, at times, utility trumps an absolute demand for liberty. However, I argue in favour of transparent traditional regulation and rational persuasion instead of nudging, when these approaches can serve the same purposes. Should we choose to nudge, we should not euphemise our efforts by claiming that we do so on behalf of freedom.

This paper seeks to clarify Tocqueville’s view that a political order premised on the primacy of individual reason over
moral authority can be detrimental to genuine intellectual liberty. Beginning with Tocqueville’s famous comment
that Americans are Cartesians without having read Descartes, I compare Tocqueville’s assessment of American
intellectual life to Descartes’ hopes for future political societies. I describe their disagreement about the effect that
moral authority and rational individualism have on the development of the mind and locate its source in two
competing theories of mind. This reveals a debate about our human needs with echoes in contemporary political
discontent.

The paper analyses the current state of the right to leave any country in International Law. Having provided a brief outline of the key instruments of International Law both at the general and at the regional levels responsible for the formal shaping of the right (I.) the analysis moves on to a brief outline of the history of the right predating the entry into force of the documents described in the first section (II.) The focus then shifts to the assessment of the key challenges emerging in the context of the practical operation of the right. The role played by passports in making the right under scrutiny usable in practice is addressed (III.) The piece then proceeds to provide a brief assessment of the essential components of the possible limitations of this right (IV.) and concludes with a brief outline of the main findings, essentially coming to ask the question whether the right to leave any country including your own is de facto guaranteed in International Law, coming to a mildly negative conclusion.

«La tolleranza non ha mai provocato guerre civili, mentre l'intolleranza ha coperto la Terra di stragi».
A Tolosa il 10 marzo 1762 il commerciante ugonotto
Jean Calas viene giustiziato con l’accusa di aver ucciso
il figlio per impedirgli di convertirsi al cattolicesimo.
Nonostante la mancanza di prove e un processo arbitrario,
Jean Calas, che anche sotto tortura si professa
innocente, è giudicato colpevole. Non da Voltaire, che
con la sua penna tagliente scaglia parole feroci contro
le storture del fanatismo religioso, mostrando come
il dogmatismo e la superstizione inquinino la convivenza
pacifica e corrompano la facoltà di giudizio.
Dando avvio a una battaglia di civiltà, il Trattato sulla
tolleranza è un vero e proprio «manifesto» per la libertà
di pensiero e il rispetto di ogni diversità. Un’opera
sempre attuale capace di riportarci alle radici stesse
della modernità.
Con un saggio di Italo Mereu.

A short series including a distinguishing terms, i.e. ‘moral,’ ‘ethic,’ and ‘Justice.’ I shall defend using animals for human consumption, the current popular problems of big game hunting, and a possible solution to the issues giving as close to a win-win as possible throughout this work. Overall, the running theme will contend that humans are not “equal” to other species of animals, especially not under the law.

There is obviously soo much more that can be said on this topic. Hopefully, this sparks thought provoking conversation.

Michel Weber, La liberté est la première des sécurités, (écrit pour Kairos 2021)

Jamais la question de la liberté n'a été aussi instrumentalisée et donc aussi urgente à redéfinir. Les philosophes sérieux procèdent parfois en trois étapes : d'abord, ils font remarquer leur embarras car la liberté serait indéfinissable ; ensuite, il se réfèrent aux contingences de l'agir tel que le sens commun en rend compte ; enfin, ils proposent un concept qui cherche à faire vivre cette expérience ineffable. Pourquoi vouloir réfléchir à ce qui se donne dans l'évidence de l'agir et se voile dans les limbes de la pensée ? Parce qu'il y va du sens de l'existence personnelle et que celui-ci offre-ou refuse-une direction collective possiblement démocratique. On examinera ici la question de la liberté à l'aide de trois approches convergentes-politique, psychologique, et philosophique-parfois anticipées dans certaines de mes publications 1 .

Brussels Mayor Yvan Mayeur has led a minute's silence in Paris with his French counterpart Anne Hidalgo. The memorial for victims of the Brussels and Lahore attacks came exactly a week after explosions at the airport and on the metro killed 35 people in the Belgian capital. " " There is no more normal, " Mayeur warned. " This is a concept that needs to be redefined. We are in a different era and we need to live in this dimension and keep believing that our model of an open, multicultural city such as Paris, Brussels, London or New York, this is what we want to be. This is the future and that is the message I wanted to bring. " Yvan Mayeur, Mayor of Brussels and Ann Hildago Mayor of Paris The European underclass/working is shrinking. In order to maintain the culture of constant division, chaos and confusion going you need fresh blood….and what better way to do it if you have none-import it…. People can glorify multiculturalism and call it a celebration of diversity and more of the feel good, humane sounding things that put people's minds in a coma, but I, for one do not accept the premise that multiculturalism is celebrating diversity. Multiculturalism comes from the Marxist/Socialist/Communist train of thought that only has the goal of destroying what is….the attacks in Brussels are the result of that.

After more than ten years of continued restrictions on religious freedom, in 1926 the Mexican bishops declared that since there were no minimum conditions for the priests to continue ministering. In this moment, many Mexican Catholics, because they had no choice to defend their religious freedom, they chose the path of arms: this is what is known as “Cristero War”. This brief paper provides the most important features to examine this stage in the history of Mexico.

Here are some notes for an intensive discussion of Machiavelli's Discourses on Livy. By systematically working through multiple sections of this particular work, the goal is to appreciate the breadth and diversity of Machiavelli's political theory beyond the narrower perspective of The Prince.

In the nineteenth century a group of “labor republicans” argued that the system of wage-labor should be replaced by a system of cooperative production. This system of cooperative production would realize republican liberty in economic, not just political, life. Today, neo-republicans argue that the republican theory of liberty only requires a universal basic income. A non-dominated ability to exit is sufficient to guarantee free labor. This essay reconstructs the more radical, labor republican view and defends it against the prevailing the neo-republican one. It argues that neorepublicanism lacks an adequate conception of structural domination, which leaves it without theoretical resources to address certain forms of economic domination. The concept of structural domination allows us to comprehend the coherence of the nineteenth century, labor republican view and identify its relevance to modern labor markets. Labor republicanism takes us beyond a universal basic income to a concern with control over productive assets and workplace organization. As such, it shows us how the republican theory of liberty can support an argument for the transformation of work, not just the escape from it.

RESUMO: Uma das questões centrais para entender as origens do liberalismo está relacionada com as importantes mudanças ocorridas no século XVII nos modos de apropriação e exploração da propriedade. Do ponto de vista da história do pensamento político a chave analítica está em entender como estas mudanças se expressavam na consciência política do período. Autores importantes do período fundaram suas explicações sobre a crise política de metade do século XVII na percepção das mudanças nas relações de propriedade; e a questão da propriedade aparece como o fundamental do próprio conceito de liberdade. Com base nestes pressupostos o texto busca entender as origens do liberalismo, analisando as relações existentes entre liberdade, autoridade e como estas se relacionavam com as transformações nas formas de propriedade que estavam ocorrendo no período. Palavras chave: Liberalismo. Pensamento político moderno. Teoria política. ABSTRACT: One of the central questions for understanding the origins of liberalism is related to important changes in the seventeenth century modes of appropriation and exploitation of property. From the standpoint of the history of political thought the analytical key is to understand how these changes were expressed in political consciousness of the period. Authors of the period founded their explanations of the political crisis of mid-seventeenth century in the perception of changes in property relations, and the issue of ownership appears as the fundamental concept of freedom. Based on these assumptions the paper seeks to understand the origins of liberalism, analysing the relationship between freedom, authority and how they were related to the changes in the forms of property that were occurring in the period.