Is it a matter of action- the field within which it is popularly conceived? Or is it a set of principles that subsumes even the 'right to unencumbered choice?' When we speak of freedom we generally limit our discourse to the former and inevitably reduce our arguments to a series of slogans having no philosophical bases.
Arthur Afterburn chose the latter approach and he began here:
He conceived of 'Popular Freedom' and 'Essential Freedom' as two distinctly separate and unequal paradigms.Re: Dialectic of Ethics. Is morality unethical?
The discovery of the contradiction was attributed to Afterburn in his 20 Principles. A good place to end up but maybe also a decent point of departure.
Afterburn's Concordance
The Dialectical Concordance: First Principles
1. That among all possible forms and actual entities Ecological Equilibrium necessarily exists.
2. That the basic substance of the universe is characterized by Mood.
3. That the basic substance of the universe is Ethics.
4. That the first three principles constitute the Dialectical Process.
5. That each Principle, in itself, contains the Dialectical Process.
6. That, therefore, there necessarily exists an Identity among all possible realities.
7. That this Identity is dichotomized only by relativity;
8. Which dichotomy in itself constitutes Dialectic.
9. That all argument is therefore by nature, spiralar.
10. That the Spiral Continuum is both ascendant and descendant simultaneously.
11. That Abstraction from the Continuum always results in circularity.
12. That the Will is necessarily characterized as Abstraction from the Continuum.
13. Will is therefore alienation from the Process of Reality- Dialectic,
14. And is therefore in opposition to the Ethical.
15. The Order of Conflicting Wills is Morality.
16. Morality is therefore by its very nature unethical.
17. Process/ Ethics is characterized by Love and Free Harmony among all actual entities.
18. Will/ Morality is characterized by conflict and force.
19. Mergence with Process is accorded by the Imagination.
20. Imagination is the Mood of God.
we are complicit in our own captivity.
Compiled by Arthur Afterburn. Berkeley, California- 1969
Principles 18 through 20, in particular, encapsulate his idea on the difference between the two:
17. Process/ Ethics is characterized by Love and Free Harmony among all actual entities.
18. Will/ Morality is characterized by conflict and force.
19. Mergence with Process is accorded by the Imagination.
20. Imagination is the Mood of God.
Even though he doesn't to cite freedom per se his principles subsume the intellectual and metaphysical requirements for a person to be free.18. Will/ Morality is characterized by conflict and force.
19. Mergence with Process is accorded by the Imagination.
20. Imagination is the Mood of God.
Sound confusing? It's really not as complex as it appears to be on first take. The popular ideas concerning freedom fall within the moral province of 'free will' while the profound concept speaks to the transcendent Laws of Ethics.
13. Will is therefore alienation from the Process of Reality- Dialectic,
14. And is therefore in opposition to the Ethical.
In other words the moral basis for 'freedom' is derivative of higher principles and limiting our arguments to derivative propositions necessarily results in contradiction. That's just the way it is:14. And is therefore in opposition to the Ethical.
15. The Order of Conflicting Wills is Morality.
16. Morality is therefore by its very nature unethical.
Don't blame me for opening this can of worms- blame Pana.16. Morality is therefore by its very nature unethical.
