1. National Humanities Faculty Working Papers. The Logic of Freedom; What Makes an American an American; The Authority of Biosocial Factors.
- Author
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National Humanities Faculty, Concord, MA., Bergmann, Frithjof, Sinder, Leon, Bergmann, Frithjof, Sinder, Leon, and National Humanities Faculty, Concord, MA.
- Abstract
These National Humanities Faculty working papers are presentations from the Question of Authority Workshop. Frithjof Bergmann's "The Logic of Freedom" distinguishes two approaches to the concept of freedom--that freedom is the ultimate good and that freedom is a burden. A theory of freedom is constructed in the second part of Bergmann's presentation. It states that an act is free if the agent identifies with the element from which it flows; it is coerced if the agent disassociates himself from that generating element. This theory requires identification or self-knowledge prior to freedom. Leon Sinder contributes "What Makes an American an American" and "The Authority of Biosocial Factors." American culture is delineated in the first presentation according to an underlying system of American values. Some of those values are puritanism, efficiency, and the ideal of the man of action. The biosocial factors that exert authority on man, chosen for discussion in the second presentation, include not only requirements common to all living things, such as reproduction, but also those more peculiar to man, such as the need to belong, the passage of time, the will to power, and conservatism. Societal and individual accomodation of these biosocial factors is also considered. (JH)
- Published
- 1972