Abstract

The author of the article has characterised the specificity of the mechanisms of freedom realization in the works of modern times thinkers. The purpose of scientific exploration is to explore the features of the formation of freedom idea in the ontological aspect. The author has concluded that freedom in the age of modern times appears to be mediated by human cognitive activity and is implemented in two main aspects: logical­epistemological and practical. It is in modern times when different types of relationship between freedom and necessity have been revealed, and attempts to systematize them do not lose its significance nowadays. The nature of social and political the thinkers of modern times have explained with the basis of the theory of social contract and natural rights including the freedom. The concepts of social contract of the thinkers differed among themselves, but the main idea they had in common is: from the natural state as a result of agreement there appears the state between the humans, the main aim of which is to protect the natural rights. The thinker have also developed the mechanism of nation­building: the system of powers distribution, the theory of law, the concept of civil society and others. The environment of social life of freedom, according to the theories of thinkers of modern times, is the civil society, the concept which has also been developed in this period.