Question

Distinguish between negative and positive liberty

Answer 1

Liberty, effectively, is another word for ‘freedom’. It means the extent to which one can freely exist as an individual without any limitations in the form of laws and regulations.

Positive liberty can be defined as the ability of an individual to act the way they want to - being completely free in the decisions they make and the actions they take. Negative liberty, on the contrary, whilst still allows freedom, restricts the extent to which one can achieve it. In negative liberty, an individual can be as free as they will, but as long as their freedom is not something they are not allowed to do. For example, you may have the freedom to own a weapon, but you do not have the freedom to use it at your will, since there are laws in place for that.

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