Are We Free?

While the words of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, who said, “Man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains,” and Nietzsche, who said, “Freedom is the ability to take responsibility for oneself,” may seem contradictory, they actually are not. Jean-Jacques Rousseau says, “Man is born free, yes. Why? Because when you are born, nothing restricts you; whatever you desire becomes your responsibility.” Man is truly chained in many aspects of life because not all of a person’s responsibilities are the ones they desire. But what Nietzsche said was that freedom is the ability to take responsibility for oneself. But here, we are not taking responsibility for ourselves, but rather for someone else. This chains a person in many aspects of life, meaning it takes away their freedom. This, in turn, damages a person’s mental health. This leads people to think they are a prisoner. How can people save themselves from this situation? People need to know that they need to be serious in some situations. Sometimes people should work to make that responsibility no longer exist. For example, if you don’t play tennis, going to training wouldn’t be your responsibility. But sometimes you need to accept the responsibility, in other words, embrace it, this way it becomes as if you chose it. And it will be balanced, meaning your responsibilities will not restrict you, in other words, you will be free, just like Nietzsche said, responsibility is human freedom. In other words, as Jean-Jacques Rousseau said, people are chained by responsibilities that they cannot push away from many parts of life, but as Nietzsche said, desired responsibilities are human freedom.