On the Psychology of Personal Freedom

ON THE PSYCHOLOGY OF PERSONAL FREEDOM HERBERT WEINER, M.D.* I. Introduction In his Republic of Silence, Jean-Paul Sartre commented that under the German occupation ofFrance the meaning offreedom to Frenchmen had never been greater and in consequence they had never been so free. Men could be free either by total engagement in action against the enemy, or in the refuge oftheir minds they could protest, resist, and affirm their freedom . Discussions about freedom have in the past revolved about the polarity ofsubmission to the law, for which the individual is rewarded with freedom , and ofaction against the social and political environment (as during the German occupation) because through rebellion and political or military action more perfect conditions for freedom will be created. Despite various prescriptions for political and social utopias and attempts at making them concrete, the historical fact remains that no society has ever absolutely assured each citizen his freedom. Furthermore, freedom for some has generally been gained at the expense ofanother's freedom. Yet Sartre affirms what history testifies: free men have existed under the most oppressive societies and conditions, and have continued to assert their beliefs, theories, interests, and principles regardless of their field of endeavor . What then are the psychological conditions necessary to provide a man sanctuary within himselfto savor and exercise his freedom in any political or social environment? My thesis in this paper is that personal freedom is not an abstract ideal which continually recedes before man, but an expression of his actions, deliberately chosen, with knowledge ofthe motives which govern them. The assumption in this statement is obviously that he be aware ofall the * AssociateProfessor ofPsychiatry, Albert Einstein College ofMedicine^New York. 479 intentions which guide his conduct, that he be able to reflect on these and in so doing distinguish and choose from amongst them. II. A Definition Personalfreedom defined in this manner clearly becomes a psychological state. The free man is one who is self-aware and prudent (but not made so by fear), master ofhis own motives, freed from external authority and the blind tyranny ofhis moral and instinctual imperatives. Freedom is neither an ethic ofsocial adjustment nor, like health, can it be defined in terms of social convention. It is a condition which may exist in every man, and truly free men may exist in every society [i]. Neither social revolution, idealistic solutions, nor an appeal for the expression ofhis "natural"—i.e., erotic—impulses can assure a man his personal freedom [2], despite many contentions throughout history that they do so. Anyone orany group who has the idea oftransforming society bypolitical or other action must have in mind an order ofpriority—norms and standards ofhuman excellence. But these values, though defining for the would-be reformers their freedom, do not assure the followers or subjects theirs, for the values of the reformer and reformed may not correspond. History has taught us that particular freedoms gained by some are at the expense of others. Asserting that the criterion offreedom is exercise ofa man's instructed will and knowledge ofhimself is thus something quite different. He is more free the more he knows what he is doing, acting with definite and clearly formed intentions. Suppose that a man discovers an obstruction to his achievement. Ifhe is to exercise the choice ofattempting or not to overcome it, he must first find out whether such obstruction stems from within him or from the outside. It would be a total abrogation ofhis freedom either to give in to external demands or to some unknown factor within him. Briefly stated, and following Stuart Hampshire [2]: "Freedom is the exercise of will in practical decisions." By "will" I mean that human faculty which, when instructed by selfknowledge , acts upon thought, feeling, motive, and value before they are translated into action. I will whether to follow Society's rules or not, or to do this or that. This is the faculty which allows men to achieve some detachment from the outer world, in order better to understand, predict, and master it, so that they shall not be restricted by "authoritarian or social 480 Herbert Weiner · On the Psychology ofPersonal Freedom Perspectives in Biology and...