Free Individual Liberty Essay Example

Individual Liberty: the Key to Humanity Revolutions: bloody, violent, and often the cause of hundreds if not thousands of unfortunate families broken. Since a young age, many of us have been introduced and taught about revolutions in a negative, almost hateful way. As if revolutions are a horrific act of disgusting humans. However, although revolutions are intertwined with violence, that does not immediately place revolutions in a negative light.

You see, revolutions are defined as “a forcible overthrow of a government or social order, in favor of a new system” by Oxford Languages. Using this definition, it is imminent that the revolutionaries deem the current system as faulty, and accept the fact that the only way the system will change is by drastic measures; namely, a revolution.

So what are these faults that so many individuals deem unacceptable enough to resort to violence? Most faults of governments’ systems boil down to one; A violation or restriction of liberty by the government. History of the world itself provides a treasure-trove of evidence supporting this idea. Such as, the French Revolutions, the American Revolution, the Haitian Revolution, and the Chinese Revolution. With all of these, the unrest of the people was evident with the ferocity of their attacks. Each governing body seemed to restrict upon its’ people’s liberty in some way, whether it be exuberant taxes; disregard of the people’s very lives; or enslavement of the people. With the breakdown of what a revolution is and why they happen comes an incredibly complex albeit simple-looking question. Is the desire for individual liberty directly connected to humanity? Furthermore, is individual liberty a key factor towards humans, being human? Before we go further, let us define what “liberty” and “humanity” truly means, once again using the help of the Oxford Dictionary. Liberty is “the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views.” and humanity is “the human race; human beings collectively”. Now, at first it appears that there is no singular answer to the question if individual liberty is directly connected to humanity, as the answer depends on the philosophy of the individual. For the purpose of restricting the essay’s length to no more than one thousand words, the different philosophies will be separated into three main criteria: ‘power to the person’; ‘power to divine beings’; and ‘the absence of power’. Firstly, ‘power to the person’. These philosophies are focused on the idea that there is nothing more important than the individual. With this mindset comes far more efforts towards fulfilling the individual’s own desires, more often than not on the whim. ‘Power to the person philosophies’ are not to be confused with the Christian theology. Christian theology states that all bodies are holy temples, while ‘power to the person philosophies’ often state that your body is a temple, but only your own. So, applying this philosophy to the question if individual liberty is directly connected to humanity, we can draw an obvious conclusion. Because of this categorization’s strong sense of freedom of the individual, any who believe in philosophies that fall under this classification would agree strongly with the question. Therefore, ‘power to the person’ philosophies are in full agreement with the statement that individual liberty is directly connected to humanity. Secondly, ‘power to divine beings’. These philosophies are centered on instruction and command from an all-powerful divine being, or a group of divine beings. Underneath this philosophy falls Christianity, Islam, Hellenism, and most religions. These philosophies are often supported by a moral compass supplied to the individual by the divine being, such as the Bible, the Quran, or the Book of Mormon. Many of these religions come with a strong sense of equality within people, believing that no one human being deserves to rule over another; rather, each and every person being under devote servitude to divine beings. A muddy area of philosophy that falls underneath the ‘power to divine beings’ categorization is paganism. Paganism does not refer to the belief of any one divine being nor grouping of divine beings, as it is a broad classification of lesser known religions that believe in their respective divine beings. Because of their variability, some pagan religions do not believe in liberty being directly connected to humanity. Therefore, ‘power to divine beings’ resolutely supports the idea that liberty is directly connected to humanity, but only considering the mainstream religions and beliefs that fall underneath this classification. Lastly, ‘absence of power’. This categorization specifically contains nihilism and existentialism, as well as other very closely related philosophies. Philosophies underneath this category have similar core beliefs. Unlike ‘power to the person’ and ‘power to divine beings’ philosophies, ‘absence of power’ philosophies neither believe in a guide to morals nor the individual holding power. Rather, ‘absence of power’ beliefs can more closely be related to ‘power to nature’ beliefs. Not supporting a moral basis, the idea of metaphysical existence, human beings created to rule over all else, nor even the idea of developing a moral stature for the individual. They believe that your life is just how it is, and whatever happens is meaningless, so there is no point in even attempting anything worth doing. This categorization denies the idea that liberty is directly connected to humanity. They have no moral basis to rely on, so they have no qualms in enslaving or enacting survival of the fittest to the extreme degree. Therefore, to us who have a moral basis in which to turn to, individual liberty is absolutely necessary for humanity. Without individual liberty, there would be truly no difference between us and wild animals. When governments are governed by those who allow their philosophies to majorly affect their leadership, it creates catastrophic damage to those governed. Evidence of those who could not withstand using their philosophy in their leadership, creating authoritarian regimes, is evident throughout history, with extreme cases being Hitler’s leadership of the Nazi forces.