The Concept of Liberty; A Critical Appraisal

Philosopher and historian of ideas, Isaiah Berlin, is one of the most famous and prominent contemporary liberals. His exposition on two kinds of liberty has brought a lot of political, social and ethical discussions concerning the concept of freedom. According to him, the important thing in the human being and even what the humanity is based on is ‘choice’, and therefore, freedom is important because it provides a ground to choice. In all aspects of Berlin’s ideas including: value pluralism, rejection of historical determinism, rejection of utopianism and defense of democracy (of course a democracy which its negative aspects are limited and controlled by critics and intellectuals) the trace of ‘freedom’ is evident, and his concern to defending liberty is perceptible and comprehensible. In this paper we’ll firstly explain the negative and positive concepts of liberty, and then, we’ll consider the different aspects of it through a critical perspective.