Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Part I, Chapter XIV
A covenant to accuse oneself, without assurance of pardon, is
likewise invalid. For in the condition of nature, where every man
is judge, there is no place for accusation: and in the civil state,
the accusation is followed with punishment; which being force, a man is not obliged not to resist. ... Also accusations upon torture, are not to be reputed as testimonies. For torture is to be used but as means of conjecture, and light, in the further examination, and search of truth: and what is in that case confessed, tendeth to the ease of him that is tortured; not to the informing of the torturers: and therefore ought not to have the credit of a sufficient testimony: for whether he deliver himself by true, or false accusation, he does it by the right of preserving his own life.
Accessed from http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/585 on 2009-08-21
Showing posts with label Point to Ponder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Point to Ponder. Show all posts
Friday, August 21, 2009
Sunday, March 04, 2007
Point to Ponder
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"Liberty is about us as social beings, and so it is a social concept."
"Liberty is about us as social beings, and so it is a social concept."
Charles Fried, Modern Liberty, 2007 p. 76.
BK: Think about this - (a) Many advocates of liberty focus on egoism and individualism as the foundation of liberty. Fried does as well by grounding liberty in our individual autonomy. The claim that liberty is a social concept is debatable. (b) This debate is both political and metaphysical - 1. Is the nature of my liberty, as an ethical restraint on you, and the state, socially determined? 2. Is the source of our concept of liberty, so that it is part of our language that we can talk about, formed through social interaction.
Could Crusoe, without Friday, be said to have any liberty? Would Friday, without Crusoe, ever have formed the idea of liberty?
BK: Think about this - (a) Many advocates of liberty focus on egoism and individualism as the foundation of liberty. Fried does as well by grounding liberty in our individual autonomy. The claim that liberty is a social concept is debatable. (b) This debate is both political and metaphysical - 1. Is the nature of my liberty, as an ethical restraint on you, and the state, socially determined? 2. Is the source of our concept of liberty, so that it is part of our language that we can talk about, formed through social interaction.
Could Crusoe, without Friday, be said to have any liberty? Would Friday, without Crusoe, ever have formed the idea of liberty?
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