Sunday, April 4, 2010

Liberty vs Freedom

To native speakers it may sound natural when to choose whether “liberty” or “freedom”, but to foreign learners of the language, they may not know the context in which they should be present, the to-us-subtle difference in meaning.

As per the Oxford dictionary:

LIBERTY:

noun ( pl. -ties)

1 the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views : compulsory retirement would interfere with individual liberty.

• (usu. liberties) an instance of this; a right or privilege, esp. a statutory one : the Bill of Rights was intended to secure basic civil liberties.
• the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved : people who have lost property or liberty without due process.
• ( Liberty) the personification of liberty as a female figure.

2 the power or scope to act as one pleases : individuals should enjoy the liberty to pursue their own interests and preferences.

• Philosophy a person's freedom from control by fate or necessity.
• informal a presumptuous remark or action : how did he know what she was thinking?—it was a liberty!
• Nautical shore leave granted to a sailor.

FREEDOM:

noun

the power or right to act, speak, or think as one wants without hindrance or restraint : we do have some freedom of choice | he talks of revoking some of the freedoms. See note at liberty.

• absence of subjection to foreign domination or despotic government : he was a champion of Irish freedom.
• the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved : the shark thrashed its way to freedom.
• the state of being physically unrestricted and able to move easily : the shorts have a side split for freedom of movement.
• ( freedom from) the state of not being subject to or affected by (a particular undesirable thing) : government policies to achieve freedom from want.
• the power of self-determination attributed to the will; the quality of being independent of fate or necessity.
• unrestricted use of something : the dog is happy having the freedom of the house when we are out.
archaic familiarity or openness in speech or behavior.

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In a nutshell, to my perception, liberty sounds more formal than freedom, besides freedom being the option used in the general sense of the idea, reserving liberty for restrictions imposed by authorities, such as rules and guidelines issued by country authorities to be followed that turn out to be hindrances of a given type, causing people oppression so as to keep them from the right to express themselves or do otherwise what’s formally stated by authorities.

Freedom may also be used in the physical context, when you are unable to move or being in a restricted situation of a given kind, as well as being not imprisoned.

Example: “He was condemned to rotter in prison through the freedom from him taken as a punishment for not accepting the liberty restrictions imposed when we was caught nude in the streets.

Regards!

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