Freedom

Liberté

  • America, Choice, Excitement
  • America, war, liberation
  • anything, individuality, good
  • a right, safety, no oppression
  • autonomy, multifaceted, choices
  • eagle, independence, responsibility
  • Flying, unobligated, independent
  • happiness, autonomy, liberty
  • Human right, ability to do and be what one wants to be, to be free you must let others be free as well, independent
  • Important, individual, fly
  • independence, autonomy
  • Independence, mobility, equality
  • Inherent, powerful, worth fighting for
  • job, speech, thought, restricted
  • justice, MLK, Malcolm X, civil rights
  • liberty, war, speech
  • Nebulous, Illusionary, Fundamental, Patriotic
  • safety, expression, harmony
  • speech, protest, education
  • Valuable, subjective, not possible
  • Argent, déséquilibrée
  • besoin
  • Bien !! Limites difficiles à cerner, Frontière.
  • Bonne valeur, horizon souhaitable, lutte
  • chance, bien, obligatoire
  • droit, chance
  • droit, justice, collectif
  • Egalité , Fraternité , Devise
  • Egalité, Fraternité, Expression , Presse
  • expression, mouvement, indépendance
  • Fondamentale !
  • liberté d'expression, sécurité,
  • Liberté de la femme, parole, démocratie
  • nécessaire, suffisant
  • Philosophes, statue de la liberté, égalité, fraternité
  • tranquillité
  • Voyage, parler, s'exprimer
  • Voyage, s'exprimer, légèreté
  • Égalité, fraternité
  • Égalité, fraternité, expression
  • égalité, fraternité, justice
  • égalité, fraternité, paix

Discussion

Du côté des français, on voit que généralement la notion de liberté fait de suite penser à la devise nationale. En revanche du côté américain, les étudiants se tournent vers des domaines beaucoup plus vastes qui reposent sur le principe de liberté. Ce qui est totalement normal.

Although the association between freedom and independence occurred for both French and American students, “independent” was written much more frequently by American students. More notably, “individuality” and “autonomy” were used strictly by American students. The American ideal of freedom is more about the control individuals have over their lives, whereas in France perhaps freedom is more about equality?

I agree with Emma that it seems like the American ideal of freedom is more individualistic, while the French idea seems to be more about equality. The American idea also seems a bit more pessimistic about its feasibility with words like “war” or the phrase “not possible”. It seems that if war is necessary, for the American ideal at least, total freedom is not possible for everyone, because at least the losers will be required to give up their ways for those of the victors. I am curious as to where freedom might stop for each group, as in to what people should it be available, and who should not have it.

I also agree with Emma and Michael. The MIT students strongly equate independence with individuality and autonomy. MIT students also bring up American events like the Civil Rights movement. Meanwhile, French students overwhelmingly write “Égalité, fraternité,” which makes sense since this is France’s national motto, and these words would be most strongly equated with Liberte. I wonder if the Americans are more concerned with freedom of choice (each individual has control over their own lives and choices), while the French are more concerned with equality (each individual should have roughly equal opportunities)?

I think all the above comments are great points. I really like that the ENSEIRB students equate freedom with equality. In my opinion, here in the US, we dont associate racism, sexism, etc as oppression and obstruction of freedom- which it is. Rather, the word ‘freedom’ is more about a person’s ability to exercise his or her rights. Is it possible that there is a reason for this historically?

I agree with the points stated above. For MIT students, freedom is definitely viewed in a more individualistic manner, while the students from ENSEIRB seem to associate freedom more as equal rights for an entire group. In fact, the responses from students from ENSEIRB seem to reflect more of a classical liberalism perspective. I wonder if their definition of freedom/liberté carries a connotation similar to that of “liberty” in English, rather than just “freedom.”

Americans also have a slight difference in meaning between freedom and civil liberty from both de facto and de jure perspective. I also think it’s interesting to think about the history that may be forming the unique political culture between the two nations. Historically, America has been the “united” states. Self-sufficient communities existed independently before 1787 and the concept of autonomy among states has been historically important (e. g. federalism), leading to emphasis in individualism. They have an identity as Americans, but they also have an equally important identity with their state. I wonder if this is true in France: do people have an equally, if not more, strong association with the region that they come from compared to an identity as being “French”?

I also agree with Emma that the ENSEIRB students think of a more collective meaning of the word freedom, whereas the MIT students think more individualistically. Like Pierre mentioned, the French students generally first thought of the country’s motto “Liberté, Egalité et Fraternité” and for this reason, without even realizing it they began to think of the word “freedom” in terms of their country as a whole, in collection with their fellow French people. In the end, however, both sides mentioned words such as “expression” and “safety”, meaning within both countries, the people have similar basic understandings of the word “freedom”.

I agree with Pierre in that the MIT students associate freedom with other fairly abstract concepts such as individuality, autonomy, independence, and liberty, while the ENSEIRB students provided more concrete ideas about freedom saying words such as their motto, the statue of liberty, and the feminist movement. It’s interesting that the civil rights movement was mentioned in the MIT side and the feminist movement was mentioned on the ENSEIRB side. What do you think this says about each respective country’s issues on equality and freedom? Do you equate freedom with rights?

I find it interesting that the ENSEIRB students associate freedom with equality. Contrary to my peers, I think that this arises from a strong focus on community in France. Freedom within a community oriented culture requires equality, while freedom in a culture that values the individual, like the U. S., requires strong individualism or even selfishness.

Les élèves de l’ENSEIRB ont beaucoup répondu  : Egalité , Fraternité, qui sont associés à la devise de la république française. D’un manière globale les élèves associent la liberté à l’indépendance et au voyage. Cependant dans les réponses des élèves de l’ENSEIRB, il n’y a, à l’exception d’une, que des réponses positives, alors que dans les réponses des élèves du MIT il y a des termes négatifs associés à la liberté comme par exemple la guerre. J’ai eu l’impression qu’en lisant toutes les réponses qu’on associe plus la liberté à des pensées positives.

De la même manière que je l’ai dit et expliqué dans la section “individualisme”, je trouve cette conversation et les différents points de vue très intéressants. Ce sujet a d’ailleurs, je pense, un lien très étroit avec l’individualisme. Comme vous l’avez dit, les américains, vous associez plus la liberté à l’individualisme, l’autonomie, l’indépendance. Tandis que les français l’associent à l’égalité. Mais est-ce que finalement ce ne serait pas la même chose ? Je m’explique : l’égalité des droits, dans un pays libre, permet à chaque individu d’agir à sa guise du moment qu’il ne porte pas atteinte à la liberté des autres. De ce fait, l’égalité dans un pays libre consiste à accorder la liberté à l’ensemble de ses citoyens. Et cette liberté se caractérise par un droit individuel d’indépendance, d’autonomie, de liberté de choix …

Je suis tout à fait du même avis que Damien. Comment peut-on être libre et par conséquent faire les choix que l’on veut si l’on n’a pas ou difficilement accès à des opportunités que les autres obtiennent facilement ? Comment alors peut on être libre de faire son propre choix ?
Cela ne me semble pas possible. Il me parait que la liberté et l’égalité sont des domaines profondément liés.

Je pense que le fait de ramener la devise de la France avec le mot liberté est une chose normale, car comme dit plus haut la liberté seule ne sert à rien si il n’y a ni respect ni égalité. Et quel serait l’intérêt d’être indépendant si personne ne respecte ce que l’on fait ou ne s’associe à notre travail ou nos actions ?

engage