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It is _not_ a "conception" of freedom; it is an observation that freedom must _include_ the absence of some kinds of internal relations. And I was referring specifically to the pressure put on all corporations to control costs. _External_ relations do not create this form of unacceptable constraint. Consider two hypothetical Palace Economies: that of Ithaca and that of Sparta (see the Odyssey). The relationship of Menelaus of Sparta to _his_ subordinate peasantry is not affected by the relationship of Odysseus to _his_ subordinate peasantry. One or the other of these two may decided to emulate the other in this respect, but that is a "free" decision, quite radically separate from the decisions of (say) two manufacturers of (say) memory chips, one in France, the other in India. They mutually constrain each other _regardless_ of any decisions either makes or desires to make. And when an entire global society is _dominated_ by this kind of internal relations, it is simply incompatible with the needs of human life. It has nothing whatever to do with the distinction between negative and positive freedom -- except, perhaps, that without this freedom positive freedom becomes pointless.
Carrol