ABSTRACT
Some versions of the claim that the value of freedom varies from time to time and from place to place need not concern the liberal at all. This chapter examines the claim that the underlying importance given to freedom within a society’s scheme of values varies with historical circumstance and social context. The main thing to pull out of the discussion concerning ‘liking’ and ‘valuing’ is that one must be cautious in moving from the claim that a culture likes something to the claim that the culture values that thing. Some versions of the claim that the value of freedom varies from time to time and from place to place need not concern the liberal at all. In addition to freedom lovers who live in cultures that place little value upon freedom, there are people in the same cultures who have no objections at all to their culture’s value scheme.
