West European Studies

The essay puts emphasis on the meaning of freedom as is defined by Hegel. The focus of the paper is on freedom that relates to spirit and moral dialect of individual. Human life cannot be considered as personal history that is linked to spirit but has gone through evolutions for purpose of reaching human freedom. Hegel views the journey of human freedom as moral and creative, thus there arises a conflict between morality and creativity.  Human life is passionate and is characterized by freedom, rights or liberty which is aspects that relate with external forces. Hegel sees freedom as the major external element of human live that connects people and the way they relate to others (Hegel, 21). Freedom and rights according to Hegel are different aspects that cannot be separated easily.

Hegel defines freedom as doing what an individual wants without the interruption of any external forces but with a certain degree of responsibility. Human beings are cunning and once they are not restricted by certain principles it becomes very hard to observe moral values. He goes further to define freedom as recognizing an individuals rightful place within certain provisions that recognizes a person within a given area.

In real life situations, freedom is associated with classical liberalism but for Hegel, freedom was what individuals try to identify. It is a loose way of associating freedom to welfare liberalism. Freedom does not mean a person is prevented from doing as one wants but it is a way of showing high degree of responsibility to freely express morality and creativity. Society is the most important organ that is shape or distorted by freedom. To choose what an individual wants depends on the requirements of society thus a strong link between the two aspects exists. In order to have a proper dialectic of history, it is important to understand the needs of people and know how to address them.

Freedom includes recognition of people in various institutions that their needs are being acknowledged and addressed. When the needs of individuals in the society are not recognized revolution happens thus becoming very hard to promote freedom. This shows that people living in a society are free to execute their duties under certain guidelines thus there is a common link among them. Hegel argued very strongly to shed light on those individuals who argued that freedom is a form of social contradiction (Hegel, 28).

A social organization cannot be made without application of legal systems that ensures that all activities in the society are legally controlled. Grammatical definition of freedom cannot be compared to how Hegel understood this term. The duties of individuals in the society are under the control of rules and regulations laid down rational law. Freedom is a humane manner in which individuals in the society are fundamental according to their daily activities. A misunderstanding arises as to how different individuals view the concept of freedom in another way that deviates from Hegel.

Individuals rights should not be prioritized to society duties because this does not clearly explain human freedom. The most important aspect of life according to Hegel is to understand freedom in execution of individual duties. Freedom is very basic when it comes to execution of duties within society. It is linked on individuals rights and liberty in the society.