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1. Term The term “equality” implies that things or persons are alike in one or more respects. It carries with it the philosophical and biblical connotations of the Greek homoiotēs and isotēs. It has also taken on overtones from the égalité of the French Revolution (1789). Liberation theology has adopted some of the concepts inherent in the terms “equity” and “equality,” with their different nuances. 2. History 2.1. In the Athens of Pericles there was resistance to privileges and a demand for political, economic, and social equality. “Isonomy” (equality before…

1. Philosophical 1.1. Etymology and Concept With related terms in other languages, the word “free” derives from the Indo-European root *prai-, meaning “protect, spare, like, love.” The Latin word ¶ for “freedom” is libertas, the Greek, eleutheria (esp. in the sense of political freedom). The latter occurred for the first time in Pindar (ca. 522-ca. 438), who said of Hieron I (ca. 540–467/466), founder of the city of Etna, that he founded it “with ordered freedom” (Pyth. 1.61). The eleutheroi were free persons who, as distinct from slaves, lived in their fatherland …