ABSTRACT
Recentwritingonthenatureoffreedomhasservedto underlineacrucialgapinouracademicexperience.Thiswritingtestifiestoprogressalongthreelines.First-andmostobvious -theconceptoffreedomhasbeenmodernizedbyitsexplication intermsofcontemporaryinstitutions.1Second,asanantidote toproliferationanewapproachtotheproblemhasbeenpioneeredintheconstructionoftypologiesoffreedom. 2Finally, theawarenessofthevarietyintheconceptsoffreedomhasbeen paralleledforthepracticeoffreedombytheconsiderationof thewholetumultuoushistoryofWesternmanastheinvolved storyofembodiedfreedom. 3Whatismissingistherelatingof
theconceptstotheactionsoffreedom.Tobesure,thisrelation hasfrequentlybeenestablishedforparticularnotionsoffreedom. Manyofthephilosophicalanalyses-especiallyrecentoneslike pragmaticandexistentialist-havebeenpredicatedonactualities ofhumanbehavior,and,ontheotherhand,manyoftheclassic historiesoffreedom-Hegel,Bury,Ruggiero,andLaski,tolist someill-assortedsamples-havetracedtherealdevelopmentof adefinitekindoffreedom.Whatwedonotyethave,however, istheconnectionbetweentherecentlyemphasizedvarietyinour conceptsoffreedomandthevarietyofourhistoricalexperience. Adler'sI d e a o f F r e e d o m hasneitherapracticalnoranhistorical dimension,whileShotwell'sL o n g W a y toF r e e d o m lacksaconceptualframework.
