Freedom as a philosophical concept and political practice

The article combines theoretical studies of the concept of freedom, the history of thought, and the study of the history of political activity aimed at the embodiment of the ideal of freedom. Relationship of the history of thought with the history of liberal and neoliberal practices determines the problem field of the article. The article aimed at problematic, debatable moments of understanding the idea of freedom, as well as difficulties and distortions of implementation practical politics. The personal aspect of the concept of freedom and its social meaning considered in the theoretical part of the article. Essential characteristics of freedom studied through analyzed its relationship with awareness and rationality. The problem of the choice, constructed from the outside of desires, raised in this work. The problem of predetermined solutions of the personality by the social environment, designated by M. Scheler, analyzed in the first part of the article. The study of the existentialists' approach to understanding human freedom in extreme situations and its relation to the fate complements the analysis and gives a holistic view of the theoretical development of the concept of freedom. The scientific novelty of the research is the disclosure of various essential understandings of the idea of freedom and its dynamic connection with political practice, which determines the various interpretational modes of the concept of freedom. The factor of contextual conditioning of the understanding of freedom investigated turning from the consideration of the interpretive modes to the consideration of the political realization of the concept of freedom and concrete situational conditions in the second section of the article. The article shows the following contradiction expressed in opposite understanding of freedom of various political movements, as well as the heterogeneity of positions and the inability to achieve a common understanding within the liberal movement. In addition, the article describes political intervention in the field of theory, as well as philosophical concepts and meanings adapt to justify political expediency.

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