Book, Freedom of the Ancients Compared with That of the Moderns, A 1/15[LS]

In the contemporary world, freedom and the human being are like Siamese twins, which emerge and develop viscerally connected to each other. It is a right so ingrained in the reality of democratic states that, not infrequently, as with oxygen, we only realize its importance when it is lacking.. What we see as natural on the threshold of the third millennium was something foreign to the reality of the French people at the end of the 18th century. The French Revolution was, notoriously, a transformative process. And the recognition of individual rights, with special emphasis on freedom, was one of the main legacies he left.. Benjamin Constant was a young intellectual when events precipitated, knowing, in practice, the destructive potential of absolutism. The maturation of his ideas and his ideals led him to deliver, in 1819, at just over fifty years old and with the status of a consecrated public figure, the celebrated speech entitled On the Liberty of the Ancients Compared to that of the Moderns. What made his discourse famous in the history of political thought was the ability to demonstrate the evolutionary line of political freedom and individual freedom, as well as the strict connection they maintain with each other.. The first liberty, characteristic of the ancients, ensured the free participation of all citizens in shaping the destinies of the State. Despite contributing to the formation of political will, the citizen, conceived in their individuality, did not have rights enforceable against the State, with which they maintained relations of mere subjection. The second freedom is that known by the moderns, which is nothing more than a safe-conduct to the expansion of individual personality, including the right to influence the administration of government, and a limiter to the action of others, of the State or of third parties. Individual liberty is modern liberty, while political liberty is its guarantee. The danger of ancient liberty was the little attention paid to individual rights, while the danger of modern liberty is that, absorbed by private interests, we renounce the right to participate in political power. Source of consultation for the understanding of individual freedom and the instrumental character of political participation rights, deserving to be known by all those interested in the theme, students or legal professionals.