ABSTRACT
“What is freedom?” and “What is NOT freedom?” Each question could provide a variety of different answers. Thus, the scope of this article is restricted to a more specific argument which will be review of the relation between freedom and knowledge. Apart from the social freedom, the anthropological freedom as İoanna Kuçuradi stated will be discussed in detail in this article. Within this context, I will investigate the notion of freedom and knowledge, following ancient and contemporary thinkers and philosophers. Second, I will intend to reveal the close connection between freedom and knowledge and how they effect each other, paying attention to social attitude of human being. Finally, I will show an approach which attempts to shed a strong light on the inducing relation between freedom and knowledge.
ÖZET
“Özgürlük nedir?” ve “Özgürlük ne DEĞİLDİR?”. Bu sorulara çok çeşitli cevaplar verilebilir. Bu nedenle, bu makalenin kapsamı daha belirgin bir tartışma ile sınırlandırılacaktır. Bu tartışmada, İoanna Kuçuradi’nin belirttiği antropolojik özgürlük incelenecektir. Bu bağlamda, antik ve çağdaş düşünürler ile filozofların izinde özgürlük ve bilgi kavramlarını inceleyerek bu iki kavram arasındaki bağlantıyı ve birbirlerini hangi açılardan etkilediklerini ortaya koymaya çalışacağım. Bu inceleme sürecinde, insanın toplumsal tutumundan yararlanarak özgürlük ve bilgi arasındaki birbirlerini tetikleyici ilişkiyi açıklığa kavuşturacak bir yaklaşım sunmayı deneyeceğim.
INTRODUCTION
Even though the concept of freedom is necessarily context-dependent, from past to present it is defined as right to act as one wants. Besides, it is considered as right to choose between alternatives. But how can a person makes correct choices if he/she has never been taught right from wrong and good from bad? As Spinoza said, men are not born free, they attain freedom. That is to say, although we have an opportunity to choose, we do not always make a choice. Accordingly, acting freely should also be understood as choosing for a reason. To do this, one could distinguish between right and wrong. As Henrik Walter stated, ‘‘A person acts (wants, decides, chooses) intelligibly, if she at least partially mentally represents alternatives and their possible consequences, apprehends their meanings, and using this knowledge actively realizes one of the alternatives for reasons which are, in principle, inducible to insight’’. To this respect, what does a person needs to make a choice for a reason?
1. FREEDOM
The notion of freedom is involved in even the first philosophical works. The book Republic by Plato is considered as the first book in which the freedom is overtly mentioned. In the book, the notion is examined not directly but indirectly through myths. Plato describes freedom as a way of choosing yourself. It determines life itself instead of only actions. By choosing and act accordingly, humankind makes his/her own way. The following philosopher Aristotle conceives of freedom as the capacity to direct oneself to those ends which someone's reason rightly recognizes as choiceworthy.2 Making a choice between alternatives without self direction arises from either coersion or lack of knowledge. For Descartes, freedom is closely related with knowing what is good and what is evil; he says “if I always saw clearly what was true and good, I should never have to deliberate about the right judgement or choice; in that case, although I should be wholly free, it would be impossible for me ever to be in a state of indifference”. That is to say, the measurement of freedom we have depends to what extent we have knowledge, The more we have knowledge, the more we have possibilities. In this respect, it is considered that freedom is discovering new possibilities. When considered from this point of view, in a situation in which we have not enough knowledge on related action, thus we do not know what could we do under specific circumtances except that what we would do at that time, is it possible to think we are free? Although, we are unchained, it is impossible to us make a real decision. Decision is about weighing alternatives. Without availability of alternatives, making a decision is out of question. The citation of ". . . 'free will' is the awareness of alternative choices" (Koestler, 1964, s. 633) clearly express relation between knowledge and freedom.
The purpose of this article is not precisely defining freedom, I’m in a struggle for making the relation between freedom and knowledge evident. Accordingly, the second term which will be examined is knowledge.
2. KNOWLEDGE
At this point, the difference between information and knowledge should be clarified. Information is facts which are acquired from something or someone. On the other hand, knowledge is combination of information and our experiences and it does reflects on our actions. However, what information and knowledge have in common is that both of which are cognitive states. While, information presents the nature of something, knowledge reflects the meaning in our minds. Unlike doxa, knowledge has epistemic justification, it is a product of our intelligence. First, we gain information from data, we analyse the information we have and we get knowledge. Naturally, knowledge takes form according to our experiences and cognitive capabilities.
It is widely known that knowing something and knowing how is different. One could know ride a bicycle, however the components of this knowledge varies from person to person. In his masterpiece, The Tacit Dimension, Michael Polanyi put forward the idea of tacit knowledge.
To be continued...