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There Are Two Types of Liberty, and We Need Both
Isaiah Berlin’s timeless political insights
The concept of liberty has been discussed by philosophers since ancient times. Everyone from Plato to Marx has tackled this theme, both personally and politically.
Isaiah Berlin, the Latvian-born philosopher who spent most of his life in England, was renowned for his political insights and public lectures. In 1958, he delivered a speech entitled ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’ at the University of Oxford.
In this fascinating lecture, Berlin presents two types of liberty: Negative Liberty and Positive Liberty. And in order to live in a healthy society, it’s vital that we have a mixture of both.
Negative Liberty
Berlin’s concept of Negative Liberty can be misleading at first glance. It does not mean bad liberty or a type of freedom that is undesirable. Rather, Negative Liberty is about freedom from outside interference.
‘By being free in this sense I mean not being interfered with by others. The wider the area of non-interference the wider my freedom.’ — Two Concepts of Liberty, Isaiah Berlin
