Freedom is an essential condition for the development of personal and social life; however, it is not always understood in the same way. Snyder’s book is not a philosophical treatise but an analysis of freedom in our Western societies. His references include Edith Stein, Simone Weil, and Václav Havel.
Snyder defends positive freedom: we must affirm, not only deny, and he distinguishes five forms of freedom: sovereignty, unpredictability, mobility, objectivity, and solidarity. Sovereignty is the acquired faculty to make decisions; unpredictability, the power to adapt physical regularities to our personal ends; mobility, the ability to move through space and time according to certain values; objectivity, the understanding of the world that allows us to change it; and finally, solidarity, the recognition that freedom is for everyone, as it is not only autonomy but requires support and a fellow human being.
The first three forms of freedom correspond to different phases of life: sovereignty to childhood; unpredictability to youth; mobility to the beginning of adulthood. Objectivity and solidarity are the mature forms of freedom that empower others.
Snyder writes chapters of the book on trains while visiting Ukraine, which is why he laughs when Russia claims to have “liberated” territories or cities. He tries to clarify and criticize the value of freedom in today’s world with an American perspective, which sometimes makes the book cumbersome, as it loses interest when focusing on American problems. It includes an extensive bibliography and explanatory notes.
A book that offers new and suggestive ideas for today’s world, with a human vision of the person, de-ideologized in pursuit of a just and less polarized society.