Who among the following believed that "Freedom from fear" is the real freedom?

Question

Accepted Answer

The correct option is 1:

**Detailed explanation of why it is correct — include conceptual, or contextual depth:**

The correct option is Aung San Suu Kyi. The concept of "Freedom from Fear" is most closely associated with the Burmese democracy activist and Nobel Peace Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. This phrase is not only central to her political philosophy but also the title of her famous essay and a collection of her writings published in 1991, titled *Freedom from Fear*.

For Aung San Suu Kyi, the struggle for democracy in Myanmar (then Burma) was fundamentally a struggle against the psychological and political oppression imposed by a totalitarian military regime. She articulated that the most insidious form of slavery is not physical imprisonment but the pervasive fear that causes people to internalize censorship, self-censor their thoughts, and abandon their moral duty to speak the truth. She famously wrote that it is "not power that corrupts, but fear." Therefore, genuine political liberation begins when the citizens conquer this internalized fear. By asserting that *freedom from fear* is the real freedom, she emphasized that political freedom is meaningless if the citizens remain perpetually terrorized, whether by overt state violence or the constant threat of it. Her definition elevated freedom beyond mere institutional change, centering it instead on the moral courage and psychological emancipation of the individual.

The incorrect option is 2:

Nelson Mandela, the iconic anti-apartheid revolutionary and President of South Africa, is globally synonymous with the concept of freedom, but his defining quote regarding the nature of freedom is distinct. Mandela often spoke of freedom not merely as the absence of chains, but as "to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others." His struggle focused on achieving political and racial equality and breaking the physical and legal bonds of apartheid. While fear was certainly a tool of the apartheid regime, Mandela's philosophical focus was strongly rooted in reconciliation, mutual respect, and the holistic liberation of both the oppressed and the oppressor.

The incorrect option is 3:

John Locke was an influential English philosopher and is one of the foundational thinkers of classical liberalism. His theories focus heavily on the concept of natural rights, particularly life, liberty, and property. Locke defined freedom primarily in terms of a "State of perfect Freedom" where individuals govern their own actions within the bounds of the law of nature, without seeking permission or depending on the will of another person. He believed government was formed via a social contract primarily to protect these pre-existing natural rights. Although his work lays the groundwork for political systems that might prevent fear, the precise articulation of "Freedom from fear" as the *real* freedom is not a defining tenet of his philosophy of liberty.

The incorrect option is 4:

Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Genevan philosopher, is known for his political theories centered on the general will and the social contract. Rousseau's definition of freedom is famously paradoxical: he argued that individuals achieve true liberty only by submitting completely to the "general will," which results in them being "forced to be free." He was deeply concerned with moral freedom, viewing physical independence in the state of nature as less valuable than the moral liberty gained through adherence to self-imposed laws within a political society. His core concept of freedom relates to autonomy and moral self-governance rather than the explicit elimination of political fear.