Business Ethics." In what sense do people have the right to liberty or personal freedom"
Before answering the question “Do people have a right to do whatever they want? If not, in what sense can people have a right to liberty or personal freedom?” I think you have to examine the meanings of the words liberty and freedom. In a general sense, liberty usually means free to do something and freedom usually means free from something. To actually be able to answer the question above you would have to take a look at the situation at hand as a whole and then decipher these meanings and how they would apply to the situation. Since the beginning of politics and government in our nation there has been a set of laws and standards set in place, starting with the Declaration of Independence. The Declaration of Independence states, “all men are created equal with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (The Jeffersonian Perspective, PP 1) This in a sense means that all men, and now women all have a chance to live their lives and be as free as they want to be as long as they are not disobeying the laws that are regarding their inalienable rights. Laws have been in place since the beginning of time as a set of guidelines to keep our society in order. It is hard to reference the ideas of liberty and freedom and how they apply to business in today’s society all the way back to Thomas Jefferson. The ideas of liberty and freedom remain the same, but the world has changed so much from back then until today. The world has, and will continue to change at an outrageous pace, therefore making it hard to refer back to the original ideas that were put in place so long ago. In regards to the question at hand and how this question applies to the ideas of less government intervention and “freer enterprise” in the business world, you have to look at each situation on a case-by-case scenario. Laws aren’t going anywhere anytime soon so you always have to refer back to the laws that are in place today and remain inside of these boundaries to ensure