Freedom and Law

Law of the Ancients, Rights of the Moderns

Abstract

How can we reconcile the command of Law and freedom of man? The ancient answer was based on the classical concept of Nature, the Christian on the free will of man (hence the concept of Christian freedom), whereas the modern on the political rights of man. The ancient concept of freedom was derived from man’s accommodation to the laws of nature, the Christian freedom emphasised the fight against sin, and the modern concepts voice the safeguards of the human rights ensured by a commonwealth treaty. Man’s rationality is confined and limited according to the ancient and Christian understanding, whereas limitless by the modern conception. The previous ones regard Law as absolute, the latter, however, tendentiously relativises the scope and strength of Law, and tends to use it in the plural, i.e. laws. Modernity, discarded God first, then Natural Laws from the conception of freedom, and subjected to constant political debates, thus relativising Law as such (c.f. French Revolution), and blurred the dividing line between what is public and what is private. The understanding of freedom placed the individual in the focus. This essay is on the relativisation of Law, the conceptual comparison of ancient and modern
freedom, and the modern tendency towards totalising politics.