Lisa Cameron, Uriel Abulof, and Faiza Shaheen debate whether the word ‘freedom’ is used as a political tool, rather than a genuine goal.
Is genuine freedom achievable? What would that look like, and is it desirable?
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Across the world, from liberals to conservatives, from revolutionaries to Hollywood movies, freedom is held up as the central perhaps key political goal. Many have proposed definitions. But there is no agreement. And the harder we look the more elusive and unknown freedom becomes. Lenin wrote, ‘when there is freedom, there will be no state’. But Burke argued you can only ever have freedom in a state. Voltaire claimed that a person ‘is free at the moment he wishes to be’. Yet for Arendt, thinking about freedom was a ‘hopeless enterprise’. But is anyone ever free? Are we free of our upbringing, our circumstances, our cultural prejudices, our species perspective?
If we are unable to determine what it is to be free, should we stop appealing to it as a political goal? Or should we accept it as a rhetorical device to encourage others to adopt our outlook? Or does freedom remain an essential aim to escape the limitations imposed on us by forces out of our control?
#politics #democracy #propaganda
Faiza Shaheen is a UK politician, former professor of economics, think-tank director, and expert in Inequality. Uriel Abulof is a professor of political science and expert in the politics of nationalism, social movements, and conflict. He is the author of several books, including The Morality and Mortality of Nations. Lisa Cameron is a Scottish Conservative politician who has served as a Member of Parliament. Lisa is also a former clinical psychologist who worked for the NHS. Hosted by Isabel Hilton.
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00:00 Introduction
00:15 is ‘freedom’ little more than a rhetorical device?
00:27 Uriel Abulof on direct democracy
02:04 Faiza Shaheen on the relationship between freedom and economics
05:18 Lisa Cameron on varieties of freedom
06:29 The post-truth world
10:11 Being suspicious about freedom
The freedom fable
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