THE CONCEPT OF FREEDOM IN POST-COMMUNISM: A PROPOSAL FOR RECONSIDERING EASTERN EUROPEAN THINKING IN CONSTRUCTING SOCIAL RESEARCH IN ROMANIA (English version)

This article analyzes the concept of freedom and its ontology in post-communist Romania and questions the opportunity of using, without filtering through Eastern European philosophy, the major Western philosophical ideas on freedom. While there is a need to use verified and up to date theories when discussing post-communism, there is also a danger of using terms which locally have other meanings than those with which they are employed in the Western academic world. Thus, this article argues, research done without filtering Western-based theories and without debating them by using the local school of thought, can fail to reach its purpose. The methodology used for this article is mainly critical. Literature on both Western and Eastern schools of thought was reviewed and compared with data obtained from newspaper analyses. In order to validate empirical observations on the notion of freedom (including philosophical freedom, political freedom etc.) qualitative interviews were conducted with people whom the “train of life” (Şora) brought my way.