The concept of freedom in Republican and liberal thought: A comparative analysis on Pettit and Rawls

Freedom has been a concept that has been emphasized throughout history in the texts of political science, philosophy, sociology, art and literature, apart from the fact that uncertainties caused by the subjective evaluations on it. However, freedom has also constituted the dominant value of some ideological positions and thought traditions in political theory. Among these, the liberal theory and the republican thought tradition have an important place. However, the freedom interpretations of liberal and republican thought, which were divided into different factions in the historical process, also differed. In liberal theory, freedom evolved from the context of non-interference to (the state) interference and formed a breaking line, while in the republican tradition of thought, the freedom that initially implied the position of the political community against the sovereign and political participation was reinterpreted in the context of prevention of arbitrary interference and non-domination. In this study; Liberal theory and the tradition of republican thought will be examined in line with the views of Philip Pettit and John Rawls. In this context, the notion of freedom and the related methodological approach of both thinkers will be discussed. In addition, the development of the concept of freedom on the axis of interference-non-interference-domination will be evaluated. The aim of the study is to demonstrate the historicity of the concept of freedom, also investigate the contacts of Rawls, who, as the leading figure in the welfare state debate, theorized the issue of interference in normative political theory, presenting an important breaking axis in the interference- non- interference line, and Philip Pettit, known as the freedom theorist of contemporary Republicanism, who proposed a third way to the freedom debate. Keywords Freedom, Non-Interference, Domination, Liberalism, Republicanism