Radical Democracy
The philosophy which will give modem mankind
a -iew hope and a new faith must put a concrete content
into the concep >f freedom. If the liberating possibi-
lity of social organisation and political institutions is
still 10 be judged" by divergent ideological prejudices,
discordant doctrines and conflicting dogmas, common
efforts for overcoming the present crisis, the greatest 'm
history, and for promoting human progress, will remain
a matter of wishful thinking. A common standard of
freedom alone can make such common efforts possible.
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Queii for freedom can be referred back to man's
struggle for existence. It accounts for the triumph of
men over nature, in the course of his efforts to satisfy
his biological needs. It provides the basis for his cons-
tan, t search for knowledge, which enables him to be
progressively free from the tyranny of natural pheno-
mena and physical and social environments. Quest for
freedom is a continuation, on a higher level—of intelli-
gence and emotion—of the biological struggle for exist-
ence. In modern society, an individual, to be free, must
not only be able to enjoy economic sufficiency and secu-
rity, but live in a social psychological atmosphere free
from cultural regimentation and helpful to the develop-
ment of his intellectual and other human potentialities.