How does freedom and necessity in human activity manifest themselves?

For each person it is extremely important to feel free and independent of external circumstances and from other people. However, it is not at all easy to understand whether true freedom exists, or all of our actions are conditioned by necessity.

Freedom and necessity. Concepts and categories

Many people think that freedom is an opportunity to always act and act as one likes, follow one's desires and not depend on someone else's opinion. However, such an approach to the definition of freedom in real life would lead to arbitrariness and infringement of the rights of other people. That is why the concept of necessity stands out in philosophy.

Necessity is some life circumstances that restrain freedom and make a person act according to common sense and the norms accepted in society. Necessity sometimes contradicts our desires, nevertheless, thinking about the consequences of our actions, we are forced to limit our freedom. Freedom and the need for human activity are categories of philosophy, the connection between which is the subject of debate among many scientists.

Is there absolute freedom

Full freedom means the person's ability to do absolutely anything he wants, regardless of whether his actions cause harm or inconvenience to somebody. If everyone could act according to their desires, without thinking about the consequences for other people, the world would be in complete chaos. For example, if a person wanted to have the same phone as a colleague, having complete freedom, he could just come up and take it away.

That is why the society created certain rules and norms that limit permissiveness. In the modern world, freedom in human activity is regulated, first of all, by law. There are other rules that affect people's behavior, for example, etiquette and subordination. Such a restriction of freedom of action gives the person confidence that his rights will not be infringed upon by others.

The connection between freedom and necessity

In philosophy, for a long time there have been debates about how freedom and the need for human activity are linked . Do these concepts contradict each other or, conversely, are inseparable.

Freedom and the need for human activity are considered by some scholars as mutually exclusive concepts. From the point of view of adherents of the theory of idealism, freedom can exist only in conditions in which it is unlimited and unlimited. In their opinion, any prohibitions make it impossible for a person to comprehend and evaluate the moral consequences of his actions.

Supporters of mechanical determinism, on the contrary, believe that all events and actions in the life of man are conditioned by external necessity. They completely deny the existence of free will and define necessity as an absolute and objective concept. In their opinion, all actions committed by people do not depend on their desires and are clearly predetermined.

Scientific approach

From the standpoint of a scientific approach, freedom and the need for human action are closely interrelated. Freedom is defined as a cognized necessity. A person is not able to influence the objective conditions of his activity, but he can choose the purpose and means of achieving it. Thus, freedom in human activity is an opportunity to make an informed choice. That is, to take this or that decision.

Freedom and the need for human action can not exist without each other. In our life, freedom is manifested as a constant freedom of choice, the necessity is present as the objective circumstances in which a person is forced to act.

Freedom of choice in everyday life

Every day a person is given the opportunity to choose. Almost every minute we make decisions in favor of this or that option: get up early in the morning or take a nap, eat something good for breakfast or drink tea, go to work on foot or drive. External circumstances in this case, our choice does not affect - a person guided solely by personal beliefs and preferences.

Freedom is always a relative concept. Depending on the specific conditions, a person may have freedom or lose it. The degree of manifestation is also always different. In some circumstances, people can choose the goals and means to achieve them, in others - freedom is only in choosing a way to adapt to reality.

Relationship with progress

In ancient times, people had rather limited freedom. The need for human activity was not always realized. People depended on nature, the mystery of which could not be understood by the human mind. There was a so-called unrecognized necessity. Man was not free, for a long time remained a slave, blindly obeying the laws of nature.

As science developed, people found answers to many questions. Phenomena that used to be divine for man were given a logical explanation. The actions of people have become meaningful, and the cause-and-effect relationships have made it possible to realize the need for certain actions. The higher the progress of society, the freer becomes a person in it. In the modern world, in developed countries, the freedom of the individual is only the rights of others.