by Miguel S. Zanella

Section 1: Etymology: Philosophical, Scientific, and Lexicographical Perspectives

The word “freedom” manifests in different linguistic and cultural contexts, revealing conceptual nuances that are simultaneously connected, homologous, and equivalent across diverse cultures. In Spanish (libertad), Portuguese (liberdade), and French (liberté), the common origin is Latin libertas, derived from liber, used to refer to a person free as opposed to enslaved. These Romance languages root freedom within a classical tradition where it not only refers to individual autonomy but also to participation in political life.

In English, there are two primary terms: liberty and freedom. Liberty, borrowed from Old French liberté and derived from Latin libertas, carries an institutional and legal connotation, tied to civil rights and political structures that allow individuals to act legally within a social order. In contrast, freedom comes from Old English frēodōm, composed of frēo (“free”) and -dōm (“state or condition”), evoking an inner, spiritual, or personal dimension of freedom. This semantic distinction highlights a tension between individual liberty and political status as group participation.

Section 2: Historical Context: Freedom as Recognition

“Freedom” in different contexts refers to a political need for recognition and is intimately linked to a social contract or organized group recognition in a given historical moment. In the French Revolution, liberté symbolized the break from absolutism and the rise of civil rights; in the Ibero-American world, libertad represented independence from colonial rule. In the Anglo-Saxon world, freedom took on a more introspective tone during civil and religious rights struggles.

Section 3: Towards the Current Problem and Conceptual Departure from Etymology

In the 21st century, freedom must be understood as a plural and situated condition. Its practice occurs in a network of relationships between individuals, the rule of law, and knowledge structures. The state must ensure material, legal, and symbolic conditions that allow mutual recognition among individuals. Without this recognition, freedom becomes abstract.

Productive knowledge—that is, the capacity to turn knowledge into economic and social value—depends on frameworks of freedom that enable circulation, cooperation, and co-creation. Following authors like Ricardo Hausmann, economic development is structured upon the complexity of knowledge distributed among free and organized actors.

Freedom, in this expanded sense, involves the capacity of individuals and nations to self-determine in environments where one party’s decisions deeply affect others. This framework manifests in international scenarios:

  • Burkina Faso and France: The postcolonial relationship is marked by tensions over sovereignty and economic influence. Burkina Faso has sought emancipation from French dependency, questioning financial agreements and military presence. (Wikipedia)
  • Israel and Palestine: The prolonged conflict reflects a struggle over recognition and territorial sovereignty. Freedom here is doubly disputed: for Palestine, the right to self-determination under occupation; for Israel, existential security. The unresolved two-state solution limits sustainable peace based on mutual recognition and justice.
  • Ukraine and Russia: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine reveals how a nation’s aspirations for freedom and self-determination can clash with geopolitical interests. The war has devastated Ukraine’s economy and reshaped European power dynamics. (France 24)
  • United States and China: Their rivalry unfolds across trade, technology, and military disputes. This has triggered a trade war affecting the global economy and raising questions about economic freedom and technological sovereignty.
  • India and Pakistan: Recurring conflicts, especially in Kashmir, show how territorial and religious disputes can restrict local freedoms and impede economic and social development.

These examples show that freedom is shaped by historical, economic, and political conditions that demand a multidimensional understanding.

Another central issue is the functioning of the rule of law. As addressed in El Silogismo Sobreutilizado, the overreliance on deductive reasoning in normative systems weakens institutions’ ability to incorporate context, emotions, analogies, and deliberation. Instead of producing inclusive meaning, such structures often reinforce formalities detached from human diversity.

Governability weakens when social contracts fail to align with changes in knowledge, value creation, and distribution. Corporate gains concentrate beyond national jurisdictions, while social value building remains subordinated to economic efficiency. In this sense, freedom appears hijacked by an instrumental rationality that excludes recognition and fair knowledge sharing.

A renewed vision of the rule of law should focus not just on norms but on integration and recognition. This implies discussing:

  • Regulatory mechanisms for multinational corporations (distinct from local entrepreneurship and private investment).
  • Global redistributive tax proposals (separate from local business frameworks).
  • Transnational educational models centered on cooperation.
  • Human mobility systems aligned with the advancement of human conditions.
  • Deliberative institutions embracing epistemic diversity and participatory spaces (beyond electoral systems).

Global freedom demands structures that go beyond formal legality to ensure effective conditions for developing human capacities in diverse contexts.

Section 4: Conceptual Proposal: How Can We Define Freedom Non-Cyclically?

Freedom is often contextually enclosed, used to justify present actions. For this reason, such definitions are flawed and hard to fix. It is a concept under continuous construction. How can we understand freedom in a world where human well-being is no longer central? When people become mere instruments for detached interest groups, decisions and structures tend to erode social cohesion.

This tension urges us to rethink freedom not as a fixed term, but as a political, cultural, and economic practice to be continually reconstructed. The question is no longer simply what it means to be free, but how we can build systems that enable freedom to be lived equitably, recognized in its plurality, and anchored in a global ethic of co-responsibility.

Bibliographical References (Chicago Style)

  • Real Academia Española. Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., s.v. “libertad”. https://dle.rae.es/libertad
  • Oxford English Dictionary. Freedom. https://www.oed.com/view/Entry/74486
  • Corominas, Joan. Breve Diccionario Etimológico de la Lengua Castellana. Madrid: Gredos, 1996.
  • Hausmann, Ricardo, et al. The Atlas of Economic Complexity: Mapping Paths to Prosperity. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2011.
  • Hausmann, Ricardo. “The Knowledge Economy.” Harvard Center for International Development. https://growthlab.cid.harvard.edu
  • “Invasion of Ukraine: What is at Stake.” France 24, 2022. https://www.france24.com/en/
  • “Burkina Faso and France Relations.” Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burkina_Faso
  • El Silogismo Sobreutilizado: Lógica, Instituciones y la Exploración Integral de la Razón. Miguel S. Zanella

 

About the Author

Miguel Sánchez Zanella is an emerging scholar of political theory with academic roots in political science and business. He earned his B.A. in Political Science from the Universidad Central de Venezuela, where he first cultivated his fascination with political theory and focus on Postmodernism & Development. Over the past decade, he pursued a career in business development and corporate finance, honing his strategic and analytical skills. He is now refocusing some of his efforts into his career on political theory, leveraging insights from his corporate experience to inform his scholarly pursuits. Forward-looking and intellectually driven, he aims to bridge practical insights with theoretical frameworks, bringing a fresh perspective to contemporary political discourse.

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