Complexity and the Meaning of Freedom: The Instrumentalist View

The technological and social complexities and synergistic interdependencies of our times have rendered the individualistic, classical liberal view of freedom all but helpless as a guide to intelligent action. An alternative conceptualization is needed. The instrumentalist view, founded as it is in the principle of the continuity of the life process, provides such an alternative. In contrast with the negative "freedom as the absence of coercion" view of the individualists, the instrumentalist views freedom as a positive power of participation in the framing of rules of right conduct. Such power, in order to be instrumentally effective, must also be founded in the best available warranted knowledge of the potential consequences of alternative patterns of rules. This need for a more expansive and relevant view of freedom comes most forcefully into focus at the interface between powerful, but potentially destructive technologies and the attendant need for their social control.