What did Berlin mean by negative and positive liberty?
Negative liberty, as I articulated it, is about freedom from interference. It is the space within which a person can act unimpeded by others. Positive liberty, conversely, concerns freedom as self-mastery, the capacity to be the author of one's own life and choices. The danger, I warned, lies in the potential for the pursuit of positive liberty to be twisted into a justification for coercion, believing that those who know best can force others towards their 'true' freedom, a path I found deeply troubling.
Ask Isaiah Berlin the follow-up →