"Enjoy your freedoms!"

This is not right, is it? Can "freedom" ever be in plural in any context?

• Spread
• Media
• Quote
• 90 visits

Are you asking a grammatical question or a philosophical one?

Either way, I don't see anything wrong with "freedoms" — it means the opposite of "restrictions". Imagine that you are in a partially restricted environment (like elementary school). You are not a total slave, abject and without freedom. You are free to choose what kind of milk you want for lunch, and free to choose whether to play on the jungle-gym or the slides at recess.

"Enjoy your freedoms," because the restrictions placed on you in elementary school suck.

• Quote
• Cite

I think the freedoms plural refer to things like: freedom of press, freedom of speech, the right to free assembly, etc. They are technically more than one freedom and are not referring to the overarching Freedom that means you are Free. You can have (government given) "freedoms" without actually being a free person (still have to pay taxes, have a Social Security number, can't kill people, etc).

• Quote
• Cite

Freedom means different things to different people.

To me, true freedom is independance from any society or person, however there is obviously then problems that arise. Freedom is not always beneficial, for instance, if by being truly free and independant, and not paying taxes, you are no longer applicable to the benefits that taxation brings around, such as (in the UK for instance), national health service.

If I snapped my legs, I get no help. I'm on my own.

Or 1984 style, it could mean you are not a slave.

Sorry, not entirely relevant to the main topic, just thought I'd throw this out there :P.

• Quote
• Cite