Social Liberty: Liberty, Liberty To Me?

712 Words2 Pages

Liberty: Liberty to me is best exemplified by the phrase “Live and Let Live”. That is, I can live the way I would like to as long as my actions do not cause disturbances in others lives. Although liberty allows me the luxury of doing what I want, it also has some restraints that are imposed inherently to facilitate smooth functioning of a society where human interaction is a must. By extension, liberty to me is a virtue of a man living in a society. Liberty can be expressed in many forms. It could include social liberty, political liberty and economic liberty among others. • Social liberty in a democratic state asserts my right to live, right to own property, right to express my views among others • Political liberty in a democratic state asserts my right to participate in elections the right to vote among participating in other matters of state. • Economic Liberty in a democratic state means the right to produce and consume goods without any pressures from the state. Equality: Equality is a word that is generally used to describe that all men are born equal and therefore should be treated the same way. However, scientifically, it is not true. Not all men are born with the same cognitive or physical capability. Equality in my view is when people of the society, regardless of their caste or creed, race or religion, rich or poor enjoy: • Social Liberty, i.e. the same basic rights (Right to live, own property, express their views). • Political Liberty i.e each individual has an equally important say in matters of the state. • People have adequate opportunities to be successful in their lives. • No special privileges should be extended to any class of people. • The same legal protection. Justice: Generally, justice is defined as... ... middle of paper ... ...biased views. What we feel looking from this view point, is how we should act in such a situation. By application of this theory, we can also say that since people do not enjoy being poor and homeless, and given a choice on one would not want to be poor and desolate, justice is in ensuring that these people have adequate opportunity to turn their life around. I believe this is a good way of looking at justice. But this form of justice could also impede the liberty of individuals if wealthy individuals are forced to forego their property or money to cater to the needs of the needy. In conclusion, I would say that the justice is essential to ensure the social and political liberty of the people and organizations. Saying that justice should also ensure economic liberty of individuals is pretty contentions because if transgresses upon the other liberties of people.

Open Document