La liberté dépend-elle des préférences individuelles?

This article is the first step toward a rehabilitation of a preference-based conception of freedom. I first review three main objections to this kind of freedom and then show that alternative approaches are in tension with freedom's instrumental value. This justifies an attempt at rescuing a preference-based conception of freedom. I argue, however, that this rescue cannot rest on perfectionism because it would pose a similar threat to the value of freedom. Assuming that overall freedom is a function of individual authentic preferences over sets of specific freedoms, I finally defend the thesis according to which the non-specific instrumental value of freedom is not only compatible with a preference-based conception of freedom, but that it seems to require such dependency. © Presses de Sciences Po. Tous droits réservés pour tous pays.