Greek Idea Of Freedom Essay

The Greek Idea of Freedom

Greek poleis did not identify as a single unified organization, although they shared a common culture. The basis of their society was a subsistence economy that expected individuals to provide for themselves. Cities only offered protections from danger, not a support system. Freedom was something that existed along a spectrum, and equality was not the goal. Governance was set up to avoid monopolies on power. Those who gained leisure time were expected to use that free time to serve the city, though in a manner of their own choosing. The most obvious issue to be found with this society is the way it relied, at base, on slavery. The Greek concept of freedom was more focused on negative freedom, and it tolerated, expected, and relied upon inequalities.

Subsistence agriculture was the foundation of Greek society. Every household was responsible for its own livelihood, and “all resources necessary for survival… were locally produced” (Mathisen, 2012: 208). There was no enforcement of “equality” which provided for
everyone, and the disparity between men’s fortunes was expected. The poleis did not provide for their citizens, but provided a social contract that promised freedom from dangers, such as being enslaved or murdered.

In Greek society, freedom was a spectrum.
Isaiah Berlin’s explanation of positive and negative freedoms is particularly helpful in understanding ancient Greek society. In Greek society if you were a slave, you had no freedoms, positive or negative. If you were a landowner, you had some negative freedoms, like being free from having someone else's will forced upon you. Those who were not slaves, but did not have enough land to support themselves, worked for wages, which was considered slavish. If you were well off, you could have positive freedoms, like the ability to practice politics, because you had leisure (or "free") time. You were always striving for more freedom. As Isaiah Berlin puts it, “The 'positive' sense of the word 'liberty' derives from the wish on the part of the individual to be his own master” (Berlin, Two Concepts of Liberty, 1969: 8). The disparity between levels of freedom was an accepted part of Greek
culture.

Greek government was designed to avoid anyone gathering too much power, not to equalize it. The sortition was implemented to distribute power among those who had the leisure time, and “not all Athenian citizens had the free time to participate in government, which could be a very time-consuming business. Only the very rich or the unemployed had the leisure time to do so” (Mathisen, 2012: 209). There was also the annual vote which required “more than one-tenth of the vote of the entire citizen body” (Mathisen, 2012: 208) in order to ostracize individuals who were thought to have gained too much power. That people were not often ostracized is irrelevant: that it was a policy illustrates that Greek society worried more about people having too much power than about ensuring everyone had equal freedoms. It was no only that people worried that others would have too much power. Solon left Athens in a self-imposed exile for a decade after establishing an oligarchy.

There was a huge reliance on slavery in ancient Greece. It was necessary for their societies to continue to function, as Finley concisely states: “dependent labour was essential, in a significant measure, if the requirements of agriculture, trade, manufacture, public works, and war production were to be fulfilled.” (Finley 1959: 1). Slavery in ancient Greece was counted on for others to have their freedoms. This is one reason that investigating the society of this time is fraught by “the confusion of the historical study with moral judgments about slavery” (Finley 1959: 160). Positive freedom was always acquired by individuals through displacing the work needed to keep themselves alive. However, I would say that this is still true to some degree, though the industrial revolution has reduced the amount of human-work required, it also hides the source of our freedoms.

The Greek’s definition of freedom was always focused on being free from something. I could not find examples of “positive freedom laws” making people explicitly free to do exercise rights. Slavery was defined as a lack of ability to determine what they would do, and prevented them from serving in government. Today, in the United States, freedom is seen as a human right, and it is assumed that “all men are created equal”, and that everyone should be free to pursue their own interests. It seems that in ancient Greece, it was expected that leisure time would be used to serve the city. Free time allowed individuals to serve the city, though in a manner of their own choosing. Today, there seems to be a reversal from the Greek focus on negative freedoms to an (American at least) idealization of positive freedoms, such as the right to free speech, to bear arms, freedom of assembly, but I also can’t help noticing that currently, the minimum wage is no longer expected to be a living wage, and there are a stunning number of people killed by police. I can’t help but feel that negative freedoms, such as freedom from murder and starvation, should be prioritized over positive freedoms that cannot be exercised by everyone.