Define Freedom

While giving a lecture to a mixed group of Russian and American graduate students at the Smolny Institute in St. Petersburg, I distributed small sheets of paper to everyone everyone in the room, and asked them to write down a definition of freedom. I said that the response could be just one or two words, or a whole sentence, but please, no more than three sentences. I also asked that they identify their citizenship, but not all those who answered actually did so. The responses are listed below, faithful to the original grammar, spelling, punctuation and formatting, followed by [U] or [R] (for USA or Russia) when known.


We live in a world of dependency. And freedom is to decide by yourself what to choose in the world of dependency. [R]

Freedom is George Bush [U]

Freedom is a figment of our imagination [U]

The ability to define your destiny

Ability to express, act, with out any restriction always respecting other’s points of view

Freedom is culture

Freedom - is a complex of
1) Ability to unrestrictedly choose of practice any type of ability with respect to the freedom of others
2) Ability to move unrestrictedly from one stratum to another (incl. the authorities)
3) Absence of any type of brainwash...

Just another word for nothing left to lose.

Freedom
Absolute
The pursuit of individual options and opportunities
Relative
The pursuit of collective options and opportunities

Freedom of speech
" " ideology, opinions
" to make decisions for one’s own life.

The ability 2 move (transportation) freely, express myself (vocally, Internet, newspapers) freely with no worries of my well being

freedom of mind
freedom in yourself

Ability to
- express your view
- choose your way of life
- Make your own economic decisions