Freedom and civilization / by Bronislaw Malinowski.

  • Bronisław Malinowski
Date:
1944
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Freedom and civilization / by Bronislaw Malinowski. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    freedom with reference to the working of human culture as a whole, or with reference to the cultural constitution of a particu¬ lar society, we shall be able to define the concept in a manner which precludes any ambiguities and solves more of the quibbles, contentions and uncertainties. I submit that the real difficulty is due to the fact that no defi¬ nition in terms of individual psychology or individual behavior can be given, because all individual freedoms, as all aspects of individual action, are related to the actions of others. They are also related in this to the instrumentalities necessary for action, that is, to systems of organization, to techniques, to mechanism, and also to words, that is, to speech, thought, deliberation and agreement. In other words, freedom is an attribute of organized and in- strumentally implemented phases of human action. Its great emo¬ tional potency is due to the fact that human life and indeed the pursuit of happiness depend upon the nature and the efficiency of those means which culture gives man in his struggle with the environment, with other human beings, and with Destiny herself. Hence unless we refer freedom to the techniques and technicalities of culture, and unless we understand it in terms of anthropological analysis, we shall never be able to establish the real semantic criteria in the distinction between legitimate and illegitimate uses of this word. Freedom is a symbol which stands for a sublime and powerful ideal. The same symbol, however, may become a dangerous weapon in the hands of the enemies of freedom. We can predicate freedom with reference to three integrally related phases or aspects of human action. First of all we can speak about the freedom of conscience, of thought or purpose; about the freedom of speech, of the press, of the written word. All these are what might be called the freedom of framing the purpose, individual or social. The second phase about which
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