What is freedom? Interdisciplinary perspectives on the ontological foundations of freedom and agency

Abstract

In this paper, we will try to establish the conditions of possibility of agency. We will present a notion of ‘freedom’, as opposed to the traditional concept of ‘free will’, based on a pluralistic and relational ontology that admits the existence of real possibilities. In contrast to the traditional view, we propose that ‘freedom’ is not a condition necessarily carried by individuals, nor is it limited to human beings, but is a characteristic of complex and organised systems capable of acting as mediating agents of real possibilities. Our conceptualisation takes up the Aristotelian notion of potency and admits different ‘degrees of potency’ inspired by the Deleuzian reading of Spinoza. In this sense, an agentive action admits degrees of ‘freedom’ when its expression incorporates, in a creative act, real possibilities that are not regulated by deterministic laws. In this way, we can account for agentive actions on the part of different types of agents, ranging from complex living organisms to collective actions of subjects and social classes, thus connecting with post-humanist and anti-speciesist perspectives. Our work is not intended to provide an empirically testable notion but is compatible with (and inspired by) the available physical-biological knowledge. We hope that the proposed notions We hope that the proposed notions will have an impact on future research on the emergence of individuation and consciousness, as well as ethical-political consequences. In this sense, our notion contrasts with the one proposed by liberal currents, based on freedom as an intrinsic property of human individuals related to each other by competitive ties, which results in a purely ‘negative’ notion. The enquiry into the general conditions of possibility of freedom naturally leads us to a critique of the form that human freedom acquires in contemporary society and to continue asking ourselves about the development of a historically novel materiality that allows for the empowerment of collective agency.