Many of the controversies going on in the world today are concerned with the problem of freedom. Issues involving freedom are important in the fields of theology, law, government, labor, philosophy, and education. For example, in assessing the ideological climate of the world, the standard of freedom is the measure used by many western political observers to demarcate the totalitarian from the free; the emergence of the nations is often defended in theory by appealing to the right of a people freely to determine themselves; the prevailing vitality of the Negro movement is America is a manifestation of a determination to obtain greater freedom and equlaity; the alliegance of many people to a world court is withheld because they fear that it would curtail their nation’s sovereignty and freedom.
In education, issues involving freedom are also central. Many educators and institutions of higher learning are concerned about the requirement of loyalty oaths from college students who obtain federal scholarship funds. It could be assumed that hardly any educator in America would deny that the development of freemen is an essential aim of education. Educators have shown an awareness of the pivotal position that freedom plays in America’s life.
While issues involving freedom are of crucial importance in the contemporary scene, disputants are not free from confusion and misunderstanding. Certainly, in a democracy, one would be justifiably troubled at attempts to impose conformity. But the very differences of opinion do call for attempts at understanding the issues, so that interested parties could be afforded evidence to make informed judgements of their own about the merits of conflicting claims to truth.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:pacific.edu/oai:scholarlycommons.pacific.edu:uop_etds-2566 |
| Date | 01 January 1964 |
| Creators | Gallo, Richard John |
| Publisher | Scholarly Commons |
| Source Sets | University of the Pacific |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations |
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