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Question of the Month

What’s More Important: Freedom, Justice, Happiness, Truth?

The following answers to this categorical question each win a random book.

My intuitive answer to this question was that freedom is the most important of the four; followed by truth, justice and happiness. Having reflected on this, I have found myself following the intertwining threads of the Enlightenment to the conclusion that freedom remains at the top of my list.

It is my contention that freedom makes it possible to find the truth, create a just society, and therefore increase happiness. My argument is based on the definition of freedom as autonomy, which is the liberty of persons to have agency in their own lives. Unlike Utilitarians, I am not convinced that overall happiness should be the measurement of a moral approach to society, however I do tend towards the notion that personal happiness is easier to find if individuals are free to decide how to live their lives, what they believe, and with whom they associate.

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