FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

FREEDOM AND RESPONSIBILITY

1. ""A child

who is denied the opportunity of elementary schooling is not only

deprived as a youngster, but also handicapped all through life (as a

person unable to do certain basic things that rely on reading, writing and

arithmetic). The adult who lacks the means of having medical treatment

for an ailment from which she suffers is not only prey to preventable

morbidity and possibly escapable mortality, but may also be denied the

freedom to do various things—for herself and for others—that she may

wish to do as a responsible human being. The bonded laborer born into

semislavery, the subjugated girl child stifled by a repressive society, the

helpless landless laborer without substantial means of earning an income

are all deprived not only in terms of well-being, but also in terms of the

ability to lead responsible lives, which are contingent on having certain

basic freedoms. Responsibility requires freedom.

The argument for social support in expanding people’s freedom can,

therefore, be seen as an argument for individual responsibility, not

against it. The linkage between freedom and responsibility works both

ways. Without the substantive freedom and capability to do something, a

person cannot be responsible for doing it. But actually having the

freedom and capability to do something does impose on the person the

duty to consider whether to do it or not, and this does involve individual

responsibility. In this sense, freedom is both necessary and sufficient for

responsibility.""

Page no 303-304 of DEVELOPMENT AS FREEDOM By Prof Amartya Sen

2.AGENTS OF FREEDOM

The social commitment to

individual freedom need not, of course, operate only through the state,

but must also involve other institutions: political and social

organizations, community-based arrangements, nongovernmental

agencies of various kinds, the media and other means of public

understanding and communication, and the institutions that allow the

functioning of markets and contractual relations. The arbitrarily narrow

view of individual responsibility—with the individual standing on an

imaginary island unhelped and unhindered by others—has to be

broadened not merely by acknowledging the role of the state, but also by

recognizing the functions of other institutions and agents.