John Iduh Blog

Sometimes, of course, what we want or feel is within our control. But that is only ever true because we can, to a degree, influence what we want or feel through our prior actions.  You can, for example, increase your  desire for food by taking a run; or you can reduce pain by applying ointment, or by deliberately concentrating your  mind on last year’s holiday,  and so forth.  Your  direct control of your  actions can, through the effect of your  actions on passive occurrences such as wants and feelings, give you some indirect control over these wants and feelings as well.  Your control over our actions extends to give you control over those actions’ consequences too.  But your freedom is still ultimately a freedom of action. Freedom is always exercised through action – through what we deliberately do or refrain from doing – and through action alone. This tight connection between freedom and action is very important. It means that to understand what freedom involves, we shall also need