Unpredictability and Freedom

I have just finished reading Timothy Snyder’s book On Freedom, and I am sad that it is over. The author, a history professor at Yale University, uses examples primarily from his own country, the USA, to explain how problematic individual freedom is in almost every region today. He does so with a fluidity that is as clear and thought-provoking as possible, often heartbreaking, but sometimes amusing. I read about the Athens-Sparta war—the constant subject of official history from 2,500 years ago—which was essentially a war between a democracy and a totalitarian regime, and how the Athenians, following their defeat, immediately sought to revise their democracy, not with a full laugh, but with a smile I tried to suppress.

The author first divides freedom into positive and negative categories. Both have numerous subheadings. The main criterion for this distinction is that positive freedom is freedom to, while negative freedom is freedom from. For example, gaining equal rights to education or healthcare, or achieving a standard of living worthy of a human being, are examples of positive freedoms, while protection from an enemy or a thief are examples of negative freedoms.

According to Snyder, the authoritarian regimes of today's world, starting with his own homeland, are built on negative rather than positive freedoms. Authoritarian administrations almost as a rule promise the governed only negative freedoms, and the current US administration is an example of this. In non-authoritarian countries, such as the Scandinavian nations that the author longs for, positive freedoms are dominant.

Here, I must draw your attention to a point not mentioned in the book. The famous 20th-century British philosopher I. Berlin also had a concept of negative freedom. This concept aims to highlight the individual's free will. For example, a person cannot be forced to declare whether they like or dislike any subject or event, and no ruler, especially the state, can put the governed under such pressure.

According to Snyder, the flourishing of human positive freedoms can occur in the light of five distinct concepts: 1. Sovereignty; 2. Unpredictability; 3. Mobility; 4. Factuality; 5. Solidarity.

Naturally, one cannot speak of the sovereignty of a newborn human. However, the child's mother, immediate family, the society in which they grow up, their education, and even their working life gradually transform them into a sovereign individual. Achieving individual mobility, and taking precautions against the restriction of movement for any reason or due to old age, requires a personal and social effort similar to the individual's attainment of sovereignty in terms of positive freedoms.

Factuality, the search for truth and respect for it, is another indispensable element of societies where positive freedom prevails. The recent Covid pandemic or the events in the current US, Israel-Iran war have painfully shown us, and continue to show us, what it costs to move away from the truth and disrespect the individual's positive freedom.

On the other hand, the human tragedies of the last century, Nazism and Communism, have shown us with painful examples how much individual freedom is related to the other individual members of society. As Snyder emphasizes, current savage capitalism is also bringing many things upon a large number of individuals. The life expectancy of the citizens of the world's wealthiest country—you could also call this the freedom to survive—is among the lowest of civilized countries. A similar picture exists in infant mortality rates. In short, the Solidarity dimension of positive freedom, symbolized by Brecht's saying "Either all together or none of us," is also very important.

Let me clarify my writing for those who read it carefully—I hope. No, as I mentioned above, I did not miss Unpredictability, which Snyder places second among positive freedoms. I must confess, I both heard this concept mentioned by the author for the first time and realized that it is extremely important for the positive freedom of my country's people, starting with myself. That is why I put it in the title of my article. Dear and beloved brothers and sisters of all worldviews and afterlife beliefs, if we want to be freer, please let us be a little more Unpredictable. Let those who give us speeches for any reason, especially those who want our votes, never be able to predict what we like, what we dislike, what we want, what we do not want, where we will applaud them, and where we will boo them.

In other words, please, let us first and as much as possible be free in thought, free in wisdom, and free in conscience. Better days will come after that.