Freedom Reclaimed: Rediscovering the American Vision

Extract

Freedom Reclaimed: Rediscovering the American Vision. By John E. Schwarz. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005. 264p. $30.00.

In his book, John Schwarz develops a conception of freedom different from, and more expansive than, the one most common today. His crucial distinction echoes that of Isaiah Berlin's (1969) Four Essays on Liberty: Negative freedom (which Schwarz calls “free-market freedom”) involves the absence of formal restrictions on personal conduct, particularly those coming from government, whereas positive freedom (“genuine freedom,” in Schwarz's words) requires that society be organized such that people can and do attain a decent standard of living through their own efforts. Schwarz differs from Berlin, however, in seeing positive freedom not as a concept easily twisted for totalitarian ends but rather as the highest form of freedom. Emphasizing only negative freedom means ignoring the bonds that connect citizens to one another, leading to an individualistic, morally bankrupt notion that says we are all in this—alone.