What is freedom?

What is freedom?

Freedom is guaranteed to us as a fundamental right, but it also has limits. Scholars at our university share their thoughts in this online feature – including short video clips.

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A collective power

Tonio Oeftering, a political education expert, calls for freedom to be understood as a collective value. To protect it, political education must be strengthened and understood as a lifelong task.

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Freedom as a privilege

Slaves had hardly any rights in the early modern period. In our interview, historian Jessica Cronshagen explains the models used at that time to justify this deprivation of freedom.

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A value of modernity

In our interview, philosopher Tilo Wesche talks about the limits of freedom and the prerequisites for voluntary social and political participation.

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Third Spring for a Song

In music, freedom is a much-troubled theme. Marius Müller-Westernhagen's famous hit with this title has been interpreted in very different ways.

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We have a choice

Were Covid-19-related lockdowns like prison? Human geographer Jennifer Turner has a clear opinion on this. In her research, she studies carceral spaces.  

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Photo: Caleb Jones/Unsplash

Free will under attack

We see ourselves as autonomous beings who can consciously decide to do or not to do something. However, neuroscience experiments raise doubts about this perception. Does free will exist at all?

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(Changed: 19 Jan 2024)  | 
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