short" (Hobbes, 1991, p. 89). Hobbes perceives that all of our possible freedoms to depend in the first place of all on our freedom from pervasive fear and insecurity due to general disorder. This is the first (and most negative) freedom of all.
We can easily see this conception of freedom in action. In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, a host of measures have been put in place that impinge on civil liberties in various ways, from holding certain individuals in indefinite detention at Guantanamo to requiring people to stand in line and undergo scrutiny or search before boarding airplanes. Criticism of these intrusions has been muted, for a reason that Hobbes makes clear. Hobbes may not have terrorism specifically in mind, but the fear of being caught in a building brought down by terrorists with incomprehensible motives is Hobbesian in its primality. We are willing to sacrifice a number of freedoms to in turn for some hope of freedom from such attacks. More generally, "anti crime" measures are regularly
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