"FREETHINKERS": WHO ARE THEY?

Freethinking is not a big thing because, philosophically, every normal person is inherently a freethinker. Thinking is hence always free. An activist in a country under the rule and control of a fascist government may be incarcerated bodily but never mentally. It is therefore not possible under normal circumstances to find a person who is not a freethinker.

Basically, it is very important at this point to be clear about the notion of being free. Initially, the fundamental issue of being free should be seen in a context because talking about freedom per se makes the whole concept of freedom ambiguous. Putting it in a context requires the identification of freedom as "freedom from what" and "freedom to do what". If one is prevented or coerced to do or not to do what s/he thinks should be done or should not be done as a matter of her/his moral prerogative, that is a situation where the issue of freedom becomes crucial. However, never can someone violate the freedom of another to think what the latter wants to think by an application of preventive and coercive forces for such forces do not exist in the mental realm under normal circumstances.

In this light, freethinking is a non-issue. Rather, the more significant issue is one's freedom to express what s/he thinks needs to be expressed because there are societies where there are controlling forces that prevent people to express what they want to express on the one hand and coerce them to express what is against their very own conscience on the other. What matters more therefore is not freethinking but free expression.

Focusing on thinking at this point after determining that freedom to think is a non-issue, what we need more as we deal with matters of political, religious, socio-cultural and economic importance, among others, is critical thinking, both analytic and synthetic.

The challenge therefore is not for us to merely be "freethinkers" but to become critical thinkers. The latter is more meaningful than the former.