ABSTRACT
Liberty has understood in several divergent ways, some of which work against others. One of the central tasks for classical liberalism in the twentieth century has been the clearer definition of its notion of liberty against other ones. This chapter discusses the I. Berlin's "Two Concepts of Liberty," where he distinguished "negative" liberty and "positive" liberty. What Berlin means by the "negative concept" of liberty is the general freedom to live as one pleases and therefore a general freedom from governmental and other forms of restriction upon it. It can be put equally in negative or positive terms: respectively, "freedom from interference by the state (and the public)" and "freedom to live as we please." The difference between "negative" and "positive" liberty is that between those who want to curb power as such and those who want to have it for themselves.
