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Asst. Proffessor. Chanmiki War, HEGEL ON FREEDOM, Hegel considered freedom as essence of man and its denial to a man tantamounted to denial of his personality and humanity. However, Hegel did not take freedom in the negative, limited and subjective sense and gave a more positive and objective conception of freedom. His freedom was not individualistic in character but a social phenomenon which could be possible only through participation in the moral life of the community. According to Hegel, every man is part of the whole and he cannot enjoy liberty or freedom in isolation. The individual will enjoy liberty or freedom, but he will do it in cooperation with others. So it is absolutely a social phenomenon. He asserted that freedom is possible only within the state and not outside it. The state is a necessary condition of freedom. The state sustains freedom. Man is free only when he lives in a state. Without it, he is completely in subjection. That is what Hegel means by his phrase that “nothing short of the state is the actualisation of freedom”. Hence, from Hegel analysis, we conclude that freedom of individual and the state cannot be separated from each other. He says “The state is the actuality of concrete freedom”., To him freedom consisted in giving total obedience to the state and in the performance of one’s duties. Since the state represents the social morality in its highest form, therefore, obedience to its laws guarantees freedom. Submission to the state means submission to the law of the state, because the will of the state is expressed through the law. It is man 's real will to obey the dictates of the state. What the state dictates that is his real will. The state cannot dictate anything wrong or unjustified. The state has the right to command and the individual must obey those and in this process he will find the fullest freedom. Thus the commands of the state give man his only opportunity to find freedom”., According to Barker, Hegel’s freedom is positive, it is expansive and it is objective. Hegel’s freedom does not mean absence of restraints or in satisfying the desires and passions as they rise but in obedience to the laws of the state which represent Reason. Since it is positive its aim is to develop the self of the individual. Man shows utmost obedience to state simply for the realisation of his self. Limitations and constraints should be imposed upon the impulses and desires of individual so that he can adjust with the rest of the society. He must learn the technique or method of adjusting the private interests with the common good of the society. This is an essential precondition of freedom. He never treated freedom as the opportunity to pursue one’s own interests exclusive of others. The absence of arbitrary restraints may be a condition of freedom but is not its essence. Hegel does not make the individual conscience the final court of appeal because it is incapable of telling us what is eternally right. Moreover, individual consciences change from place to place and from time to time. Therefore, for realisation of freedom we must look to the state, for its laws alone represent the eternal reason. Hegel’s freedom is outwardly expressed, so it is objective., Criticisms, Some critics are of the opinion that by identifying freedom with obedience to the laws of the state, Hegel has sacrificed the individual at the altar of the state. While Hegel sought to give a more satisfactory definition of liberty than that provided by those who regard the state as a machine, he in the end sacrificed the individual to the Great Leviathan. In the words of Barker, Hegel turned the edge of the principle of freedom by identifying it with obedience. According to Sabine, to level obedience at freedom is a paradox rather than explanation.