تطــور مفهــوم الحريــة في الفلسفـــة الليبراليــــة د. علـــي أحمــد علــي الحـــــاوري (1

Abstract

Abstract
         

For centuries, western thinkers and philosophers have tried to provide theoretical and practical remedies to the conflict between power and freedom. Despite the wide spread of liberal concepts, the liberal concept of freedom remains ambiguous in the Arabic cultural and political circles. This study is determined by the following questions: The concept of freedom in the western liberal philosophy? What is the relationship between liberalism and democracy? What is the liberal treatment of the conflict between power and freedom? What are the disadvantages of the liberal concept of freedom? The study, through its five investigations, attempted to answer these questions and other questions. The most important objective of the study was to promote intellectual trends that are calling for freedom to be dominant in the Arabic society. The study adopted the analytical descriptive approach as a basic approach with the help of other indispensible approaches such as the historical approach and the comparative approach. The researcher tried at the same time to depend on evaluation and criticism instead of description and analysis.

The study concluded that the concept of freedom is relative and fundamentally developed and that there is no definition that is agreed upon. The metaphysical philosophical study of the subject of freedom does not provide solutions for the real problems. Therefore, it should be studied within the state and society. Also the study concluded that freedom has two basic meanings: in the sense of individual independence towards power and its ability to act (civil freedom) and freedom in the sense of participation of the individual in the rule of the state, namely democracy (political freedom). In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, liberalism has revised its concept of freedom and resulted in the development of the concept in its two main levels. In light of this, most western thinkers believe that one of the basic elements that make up public freedom is an economic or social element. The study also concluded that despite the theoretical and practical development of liberalism in the area of ​​freedoms and rights in general and the concessions made in the socio-economic field in particular, many shortcomings and faults remain.