Positive basis of negative freedom. Notes on Isaiah Berlin’s concept Jon Mills, Civilization and its Fate

Abstrakt

In this article I examine some aspects of the conception of negative liberty, mainly in view presented by Isaiah Berlin in his famous Four Essays on Liberty. I try to prove that his dualistic conception of liberty is unsatisfactory and incomplete. It results from his one-sided and in fact incorrect analysis of positive liberty. Berlin wrongly identified positive liberty only with the source of oppression neglecting the fact that this kind of liberty is a necessary condition for liberal negative liberty he wanted to defend.