Page - 73 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Volume 2:2

74 | www.limina-graz.eu Isabella Guanzini | Ideas of Freedom circumstances, the spirit of liberty, or that of progress or improvement. The spirit of improvement is not always a spirit of liberty, for it may aim at forcing improvements on an unwilling people; and the spirit of liberty, in so far as it resists such attempts, may ally itself locally and temporarily with the opponents of improvement; but the only unfailing and perma- nent source of improvement is liberty, since by it there are as many pos- sible independent centres of improvement as there are individuals. The progressive principle, however, in either shape, whether as the love of liberty or of improvement, is antagonistic to the sway of Custom, involv- ing at least emancipation from that yoke; and the contest between the two constitutes the chief interest of the history of mankind” (Mill 2003, 134–135). Democratic equality tends to disintegrate social bonds and leave the indi- vidual at the mercy of the despotism of “a formidable and tutelary power”, which manifests itself in the rise of bureaucracies and new intolerances towards differences and discrepancies (Mill 2003, 76). The conformist passion of modern societies does not require the use of force to impose its conditionings and norms upon individual consciences: indeed, it employs “soft” disciplinary practices geared to promote the unconscious internali- zation of its apparatuses, so that the latter become active while remaining unthought. Emancipated from the pre-individualistic mechanisms of subjection prop- er to organic communities, which deprived man of freedom and autonomy while granting him security, the modern man progressively acquires free- dom and autonomy, though he finds himself in a condition of deep uncer- tainty. If the civilization of the Western world corresponds to the actual growth of the liberties and rights of individuals – especially in the sense of a “negative liberty” – what is left unrealized is an effective “positive lib- erty” capable of materializing the acquired independence. Erich Fromm’s analysis of this shortcoming remains still relevant and profound: “Free- dom, though it has brought him independence and rationality, has made him isolated and, thereby, anxious and powerless” (Fromm 2001, ix). However, this condition is intolerable, whereby the subject is faced with two alternatives: he can either acknowledge his own condition and exercise his freedom – thereby acting according to his will, adhering to his desire  – The modern man progressively acquires freedom and autonomy, though he finds himself in a condition of deep uncertainty.