Licences, Mandates, Rules - What is Freedom?

Tuesday 19 July 2022, 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm

Any replies to the organizer - thormay@yahoo.com

Venue: ZOOM online

Focus Questions

1. So what is 'freedom' in your view? What other ideas of 'freedom' might other people have? How far should responsibilities check 'freedoms'?

2. What freedoms should a person surrender to live in a society or work for an employer? Any group of men, women and children are unequal in many ways. They vary in abilities, dispositions and resources. Some are generous, some are selfish. Some will do anything to get what they want, even kill.

3. What powers and what independence should a judge have to decide the future freedom of defendants?

4. What authority should parents exercise over children? Whan should the state have a right to intervene?

5. Should education be compulsory? What kind of education?

6. Should a woman have freedom to decide to abort? Why or why not?

7. What should you be required to have a licence to own or to use or to do? Justify?

8. Voting in Australia is compulsory. Failure to vote attracts a $20 fine. What are some arguments for and against compulsory voting.

9. Worldwide, many new laws seek to manage the environment and sources of energy. These laws impinge upon earlier freedoms of individuals, companies and governments to act independently (often ignoring the environment). What is a workable balance of interests in this situation?

10. With the end of the Cold War (1991) USA administrations felt that America was 'exceptional', virtuous, and free to tell other countries how to behave. How did that work out? Lessons?

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Extra Reading

Julian Ryall (15 July 2022) "In Japan, online insults punishable by up to a year in prison" The Age @ https://www.theage.com.au/world/asia/in-japan-online-insults-punishable-by-up-to-a-year-in-prison-20220615-p5atqz.html [Quote: "Japan has seen a sharp increase in incidents of online abuse and cyberbullying, with experts suggesting that people find it easier to criticise and insult behind the anonymity of social media posts".]

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