Abstract

This essay on freedom aims especially at understanding the "mind-forged manacles" with which some, philosophers and others, would shackle us. It pursues its course by way of excursions into logic, ontology, and ethics, taking as its reference points several philosophers, primarily Wittgenstein, Heidegger, and James. It concludes with some poetic nature mysticism which seeks to evoke the wish for freedom and for avoiding collapse into a meaningless nihilism.