Negative Freiheitsrechte und gesellschaftliche Selbstorganisation

In the literature written for and by members of the legal or social sciences professions, negative rights of individual liberty are often presented as priviliges that protect the 'egoistical individual' from the state. In the various versions of methodological individualism, this is either justified as a necessary expression of respect for the autonomy of the individual, or it is looked upon critically as a reduction of human freedom by its collective component. From a critical point of view, what is needed is a supplementation of the negative rights of individual liberty with a 'positive' counterpart in order to enable 'real' freedom.