Dr. Tabea Hirzel answers some key questions about her work Principles of Liberty

1. Is liberty a value?
PoLQ 001
Ques ons on Principles of Liberty

2. Source text:
“First, instead of comparing forms of society, its
cons tuent principle was analysed at different levels of
society, throughout different steps of the process; from
the individual person towards the social community and
its environment. Second, even unorthodox for liberal
anarchist theories, this study proposed to understand
liberty neither as a goal, nor as a value, but as the
underlying first principle cons tuent for all forms of
social life”.
(Hirzel, 2015. Principles of Liberty)

4. Epistemological approach:
Epistemological element (what tes ng)
• What can be known?
• How can it be known (tool)?
• Why should it be known?
This ques on understands the text as an issue in epistemologogy:
what is to be observed and scru nized
the kind of ques ons that are supposed to be asked and probed for
answers in rela on to this subject
(See: Kornmesser, 2014, p. 20)

5. Some opinions:
All government,
of course, is
against liberty.
H. L. Mencken

6. Defini on: Value
1. The regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or
usefulness of something. (value)
2. Principles or standards of behaviour; one’s judgement of what is
important in life. (values)
3. The numerical amount denoted by an algebraic term; a magnitude,
quan ty, or number. (math)
4. The rela ve dura on of the sound signified by a note. (music)
5. The meaning of a word or other linguis c unit. (linguis cs)
6. The rela ve degree of lightness or darkness of a par cular colour. (art)
measurement
(Reference: Oxford Dic onaries Online)

7. Defini on: First Principle (Apriori)
• A logical implica on or founda on, required for a
proposi on to be evaluated as true or false.
• A priori proposi ons can be evaluated without any
empirical measurements, by logic only.
(See:
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Loyola Marymount University. Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (IEP).)
frame

9. Methodological approach:
Methodological element (how tes ng)
• How can something be known?
• Theory of mind and mind as subject/measuring instrument
This text, however, is rather concerned with ques ons in methodology:
how these ques ons are to be structured
how the results of scien fic inves ga ons should be interpreted
how is an experiment to be conducted, and
what equipment is available to conduct the experiment.
(See: Kornmesser, 2014, p. 20)

10. Source text:
“First, instead of comparing forms of society, its
cons tuent principle was analysed at different
levels of society, throughout different steps of
the process; from the individual person towards
the social community and its environment.
Second, even unorthodox for liberal anarchist
theories, this study proposed to understand
liberty neither as a goal, nor as a value, but as
the underlying first principle cons tuent for all
forms of social life”.