Productive Flourishing Podcast 086: Two Concepts of Freedom
A lot of our decisions revolve around enhancing our own freedom. The challenge is that there are two distinct kinds of freedom that are often in tension and lead us to making decisions that keep us from flourishing and being our best selves in the world. In today’s solo riff, I’m going to explore the two concepts of freedom and how they lead to different outcomes.
Key Takeaways:
[0:49] Thank you to SaneBox.com for sponsoring episode #86.
[1:50] Have you ever made a choice to increase your freedom only to figure out you were no happier afterwards?
[1:56] Or have you ever found you’ve been the most happy during times in which you were the least free?
[2:02] If so, you’ve experienced the reality of there being two kinds of freedom: Negative freedom and positive freedom.
[2:54] The two concepts of freedom often hang in tension with one another experientially.
[3:14] The distinction between the two concepts of freedom becomes even more tense for those of us who are service-focused & enjoy working in groups. But how?
[4:58] Entrepreneurship and having a small business gives you the option to choose which interferences and inconveniences you want to face.
[6:45] The distinction between positive and negative freedom is not new. In 1958, Isaiah Berlinshared a philosophical lecture called Two concepts of Liberty.
[9:22] What constraints will give you the most positive freedom? What do positive freedom and negative freedom each gives us?
[9:56] Freedom shares the same relationships with constraints as creativity does with structure.
[11:10] Picking a business strategy or model and sticking with it enables more positive freedom for your business.
[11:32] A better question than “How can I be free?” is “What conditions enable me to thrive and what do I need to do to get them in place?”
Mentioned in This Episode:
Two Concepts of Liberty by Isaiah Berlin
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