Freedom and Philosophy

PART 1

In a well-developed short essay, address the prompts for one of the choices below:

Question A

Freedom and Morality. In Chapter 18 of The Prince, Machiavelli offers advice for future rulers: “Everyone admits how praiseworthy it is for a political leader to keep his word and to behave with integrity rather than cunning. Nevertheless, our experience has been that those leaders who have done great things have considered keeping their word of little account and have known how to beguile men’s minds by shrewdness and cunning. Occasionally, the words of leaders must serve to hide the facts. But the lies should be told in such a way that the general population does not become aware of them; or, if the lies are discovered, excuses must be ready at hand to be produced immediately. In the end, the leaders most likely to reach their goals and sway the people are those who have not relied on integrity or on keeping their word.”

Contrastingly, Aristotle said that we are not free if our actions are caused or influenced by external compulsion (including deceit or insufficient evidence).

The old joke asks, “How can you tell a politician is lying?” And, the classic answer is, “His lips are moving.” Americans have always suspected that their politicians leaders tell falsehoods, and recent national leaders have even admitted that they “misspoke” (i.e., lied) on numerous occasions to the American people.

Define freedom in your own terms, specifically outlining those aspects of yourself that you consider the basis of your own conception of “acting freely.” To what extent can people truly be free if they are living in a society where their leaders routinely lie to them in order to gain the common man’s compliance? To what extent is it possible or impossible for a person to be “acting freely” when he lacks the relevant (and truthful) information needed for his decision-making? Explain which type of government you believe provides the most individual freedoms and that you personally believe would be more preferable to live in—an immoral and powerful government that lies to the people or a weak but moral government in which the leaders always tells the truth. Defend your position for why your choice is more desirable than the alternative.

Question B

Freedom and Self. Define freedom in your own terms, specifically outlining those aspects of yourself that you consider the basis of your own conception of “acting freely.”

An idea we were left with from the textbook is that people are so largely influenced by both nature and nurture that it is difficult to make any sort of decision which has not already been affected by both internal and external influences; our “self identities” are not a creation of own but largely the product of biology and relationships. But, choosing to “act freely” implies that we are choosing freely, without influences affecting our choices.

Think back to our discussion of the “essential self” in Week 4 as you address the following questions. To what extent does your conception of “acting freely” include playing roles and interacting with other people? To what extent do other people limit your freedom? How can your “essential self” be free choose to “act freely” while living in a world in which you are bound by obligations to various kinds of other people? Under which conditions would you be confident to declare that you had freely chosen a “free act”?

PART 2

In no more than one or two paragraphs, answer the following:

As you reflect on your work and your learning in this class, what has been the most important skill you have mastered, insight you have secured, or knowledge you have gained? With respect to the skill, insight, or knowledge you have identified, why is that thing important to you and in what ways, and to what ends will you be able to use it later on?