"For decades we have held on to a paradigm of freedom that increasingly turns out to be mistaken."
Gregor Halff Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Freedom?
Writing something meaningful about freedom for our alumni in just 400 words is, in truth, impossible. After all, social scientists and humanities scholars know better than anyone that beneath every field concerned with people lie age-old layers of literature and insight about freedom – layers that I cannot begin to unpack in a brief text like this.
It is precisely these layers, and the ongoing intellectual debates we can have about freedom, that make me proud of our community of scholars, staff, students and alumni.
At the same time, I am humbled that for decades we have held on to a paradigm of freedom that increasingly turns out to be mistaken – what might be called the “all-inclusive Club Med paradigm”: the belief that all fundamental freedoms ultimately act in unison or at least follow one another in the long term. The assumption has been, for instance, that economic freedom would eventually lead to freedom of expression and religion; that freedom of expression and religion would be followed by political freedom; or that political freedom would pave the way for economic freedom.
We should not give up hope in those connections between forms of freedom, but we should let go of the scientific paradigm.
"Intellectual debates we can have about freedom make me proud of our community."
After all, there are countries and communities today where political freedom remains subordinate, even amid enormous macroeconomic leaps; communities whose desire for political freedom is independent of economic prosperity; prosperous and formally politically free countries in which freedom of expression and religion is actively restricted. I don't have to name them. You will likely already have at least three examples in mind.
The “Club Med paradigm” turns out to be flawed. The academic world now recognises this too. And it is here where another form of freedom comes into view – one that we in the Netherlands can be proud of: the freedom to subject our findings to criticism, and the freedom to admit mistakes without undermining the value of science (on the contrary: insight is often the result of a series of exclusions).
However, this form of freedom is under pressure around the world. As employees and alumni of VU Amsterdam, we can be proud of this freedom. But foreign countries remind us that it cannot be taken for granted. We must protect it together as it protects us.
Gregor Halff
magazine for social sciences and humanities alumni june 2025