Freedom requires material independence from another’s arbitrary will

Evidence

But it is in the English and American developments of the republican heritage that the polarized language of freedom and servitude, freeman and slave, really comes into its own. James Harrington (1992: 269) marks the contrast in the context of stressing the need for a person to have material resources if they are to be free: ‘The man that cannot live upon his own must be a servant; but he that can live upon his own may be a freeman.’ For Harrington, the ultimate in unfreedom is having to live at the will of another—the arbitrary will of another—in the manner of the slave; the essence of freedom is not to have to endure such dependence and vulnerability. He uses this language to mark the contrast between someone who lives in Turkey, subject to arbitrary rule, for example, and the citizen of republican Lucca: ‘the greatest bashaw is a tenant, as well of his head as of his estate, at the will of his lord, the meanest Lucchese that hath land is a freeholder of both’ (Harrington 1992: 20). The crucial phrase here is ‘at the will of his lord’: no matter how permissive the lord is, the fact of depending on his grace and favour, the fact of living under his domination, entails an absence of freedom. — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 173

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes Pettit’s core non-domination definition of freedom against the backdrop of the republican tradition.
• XREF: connects to: Money lets people do things their individual powers cannot — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism: What Killed Capitalism, 94; State action is justified for goods individuals cannot secure privately but states can — Philip Pettit, Republicanism: A Theory of Freedom and…, 452; Freedom and independence are distinct and often mutually exclusive — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting…, 824 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Freedom can be reconceived as non-domination rather than non-interference or self-mastery #expands (0.90) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 1207
• Freedom and independence are distinct and often mutually exclusive #complicates (0.85) — Bernard Lewis, From Babel to Dragomans, 824
• Freedom as non-interference can exist in isolation while non-domination requires society #expands (0.85) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 337
• Freedom must be conceived negatively as freedom from the economy #corroborates (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 112
• Freedom as non-domination requires embracing state power rather than fearing it #expands (0.80) — Philip Pettit, Republicanism, 389