So… What Is Freedom Really?

I’ve always had a hard time getting my mind around the idea of “Freedom”…

My difficulty started when my history professor said a quote whose author I can’t remember or find. He said:

“Freedom is doing what you should want to do”

We were studying the Age of Enlightenment and my professor, to start the dialogue, asked, "So… What is freedom really?”.

The class went quiet for a few seconds. Then, answers started flowing.

“It’s doing whatever you want”

“It’s being free”

“It’s not being forced to do something”

My professor looked at me to see what I would say. I was the intelligent kid in the class. And he knew it.

I was still thinking by then.

The whole class was looking at me for some reason to see what I would say.

I stopped looking at the table, looked up at my professor and said: “I have no idea”.

My class was audibly disappointed.

The professor smirked, cleaned his glasses and said the quote “Freedom is doing what you should want to do”.

Everyone took the quote at face value. But I knew that there was more to it than that.

All quotes miss context. You just have to give the context you believe the author did.