ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that the negative view has difficulties in deriving adequate conceptions of a free person by taking an aggregate of free actions. It considers various attempts to reconcile the conflicting liberties of people, from natural right theories, to utilitarian and social contract views and argues that the 'measurement' of the freedom of a person is very difficult, if not impossible, because of the incommensurable criteria of freedom. The chapter focuses on another attempt, as hinted by Hayek, that grounds free society on voluntary exchange relations and freedom of contract. It analysis none of the versions of negative freedom we have considered can derive an adequate account of a free society. An individual is free if he is not constrained in his relations with others and if his freedom of action is not constrained by the state. Negative freedom starts with the assumption that the individual is naturally free.
