Positive freedom: past, present, and future

Freedom is widely regarded as a basic social and political value that is deeply connected to the ideals of democracy, equality, liberation, and social recognition. Many insist that freedom must include conditions that go beyond simple "negative" liberty understood as the absence of constraints; only if freedom includes other conditions such as the capability to act, mental and physical control of oneself, and social recognition by others will it deserve its place in the pantheon of basic social values. Positive Freedom is the first volume to examine the idea of positive liberty in detail and from multiple perspectives. With contributions from leading scholars in ethics and political theory, this collection includes both historical studies of the idea of positive freedom and discussions of its connection to important contemporary issues in social and political philosophy.

Introduction: The multiple dimensions of positive freedom / John Christman -- Unity and disunity in the positive tradition / Michael Garnett -- Positive liberty as realizing the essence of man / Michael Quante -- Moral and personal positive freedom / Maria Dimova-Cookson -- Positive freedom and freedom of contract : fairness, fairing well, and freedom / Avital Simhony -- Recognition and positive freedom / David Ingram -- Self-mastery and the quality of a life / Steven Wall -- Basic freedom in the real world / John Christman -- Reframing democracy with positive freedom : the power of liberty reconsidered / Carol C. Gould -- Disability and positive liberty / Nancy J. Hirschmann -- Positive freedom and paternalism / Horacio Spector -- Beyond positive and negative liberty : Habermas and Honneth on political freedom / Maeve Cooke -- Property and political power : neo-feudal entanglements / Rutger Claassen -- Public reason, positive liberty, and legitimacy / Chad Van Schoelandt.