Axel Honneth on the Evolution of Negative Freedom

"Contrary to his own intensions, Hobbes' unleashing of the legitimate purposes of free action led to the rise of a concept of freedom who primary aim is to defend idiosyncrasy. This feature of negative freedom, however, only becomes clear once individuality loses its elitist character and becomes a cultural achievement of the masses. At the height of twentieth-century individualism, it became apparent that Hobbes' doctrine was also an expression of the tendency to grant people the opportunity to be narcissistic and eccentric. Both Sartre's existentialism and Nozick's libertarianism represent variations on this theme of negative freedom." (p. 23)