Since Protagoras’ famous “man is the measure of all things,” declaring human freedom as an unlimited absolute, philosophers have been fascinated with the idea of freedom.
Philosopher/scholar Adler categorized freedom as:
- self-realization
- acquired state of mind
- self-determination: to determine — not necessarily carry-out — wishes/actions in life
Gandhi thought, “freedom isn’t worth having if it doesn’t connote freedom to err.”
Hindu/Buddhist freedom is embedded in moksha; to Chuang Tzu freedom meant “free yourself from the world.”
In modern China/world, freedom is “fusion of personal, national, social, civic, and moral freedoms” or “liberation, self-development, independent personality/responsibility, democracy/human-rights, spiritual-cultural necessity, privacy, autonomy/self-mastery.