Question

How did liberty, equality and fraternity impact the "modern" world?

Answer 1

The triad "liberty, equality, fraternity" became popular with the French Revolution. Robespierre proposed in 1790 that it should be written in National Guard uniforms and in all flags. In 1848 this motto was defined in the French constitution as constituting a principle of the republic; it appears in the constitutions of 1946 and 1958. It had several variations, such as "unity, strength, virtue" used in Masonic lodges, or "liberty, security, property," "liberty, unity, equality" etc. During the Nazi occupation it was replaced by "work, family, fatherland". But it is the form known today that became the French motto, adopted also in other countries, such as in the Constitution of India of 1950. The first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights contains the triad: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood."

Interestingly, these three ideals have become social movements throughout history. Before discussing this aspect concerning each ideal individually, it is important to characterize how they are understood in this text.

In terms of freedom, we should consider both the external and internal aspects of the human being. The external one has to do with giving freedom to people. In the Old Testament we already find the yearning for freedom in relation to a community, with the escape of the Jewish people from the slavery in Egypt (Exodus Following my conception of the world I will hypothetically assume the existence of free will in humans (but not in animals and plants). This hypothesis is based on my own experience of being able to determine a next thought, consciously choosing among several possible thoughts, without this choice being forced by preferences or remembrances. For example, I can mentally choose two numbers I have never seen or never thought about, and then choose one of them, "visualizing" it mentally for a few seconds, with closed eyes, as on a display of numbers for a queue, corresponding to numbers drawn by the people in the queue. Based on this hypothesis, external freedom should allow for inner freedom, that is, free will, to manifest itself. Note that it is possible to prevent the exercise of free will: just induce the person into a semi-conscious state like the one produced by excessive alcohol consumption, by psychotropic drugs, outbursts of anger or fear, sleep deprivation, brainwashing, stress, TV, and electronic games of the action/reaction or ego-shooter type (due the speed with which the player must react, because conscious thought is