2.1 Core ideas and principles Flashcards
How did liberalism emerge?
In reaction to the rule of monarchists and aristocratic privilege in the early modern world.
Reflected the views of the educated middle classes; sought wider civil liberties and opportunities to better themselves.
Part of the Enlightenment; stressed importance of tolerance and freedom from tyranny.
What did thinkers influenced by liberalism believe?
The traditional restrictions on the freedom of the individual should be abolished; imposed by govt or church.
That people are born with different potential, but all are equal in rights.
That people should be free to take their own decisions and make the most of their talents and opportunities.
What was the classic statement with a liberal outlook?
The US Declaration of Independence (1776), primarily written by Thomas Jefferson.
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights (natural rights), that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’
What are the core liberal principles?
- Individualism
- Freedom/liberty
- The state: a ‘necessary evil’
- Rationalism
- Equality and social justice
- Liberal democracy
What is individualism?
Importance of the individual over the claims of any social group or collective body.
Immanuel Kant argued that all individuals are unique and have equal worth; should be used as ‘ends’ and never merely as ‘means’ - shouldn’t be treated as instruments to achieve a goal - categorical imperative.
What type of individualism do classical liberals believe in?
‘Egotistical individualism’ - view that people are essentially self-seeking and self-reliant.
Minimises importance of society - little more than a collection of independent individuals.
What type of individualism is the view more widely held in the modern world?
Developmental individualism.
Define developmental individualism.
The view that individual freedom is linked to the desire to create a society in which each person can grow and flourish.
Define tolerance.
A willingness to accept values, customs and beliefs with which one disagrees.
What did early liberals object to?
Early liberals objected to the way in which authoritarian governments claimed a right to take decisions on behalf of people and attempted to regulate their behaviour.
What do liberals, classical and modern, recognise about freedom, and why?
That it can never be absolute but must be exercised under the law, in order to protect people from interfering with each other’s rights.
Locke argued that ‘the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom… where there is no law, there is no freedom.’
What was the concept of liberty central to in the early 19th century?
The work of the the school of thought known as utilitarianism.
Jeremy Bentham (leading thinker) - each individual can decide what is in his or her own interests.
- Argued that human actions are motivated mainly by a desire to pursue pleasure and avoid pain
- Therefore, government shouldn’t prevent people from doing what they choose unless their actions threaten others’ ability to do that for themselves
What is utilitarianism when applied to society at large?
‘The greatest happiness for the greatest number’ - interests of minorities perhaps overridden by those of the majority.
What did John Stuart Mill eventually disagree on with Jeremy Bentham? What did he put forward as a result?
He came to see the pursuit of pleasure and avoidance pain as too simplistic - so he put forward the idea of negative freedom.
Define negative freedom.
Freedom from interference by other people .
Individuals should only be subject to external restraint when their actions potentially affect others, not when their actions affect only themselves.
Why, from the late 19th century onwards, did many liberals find Mill’s concept of liberty too limited?
Which thinker argued against Mill?
Because it viewed society as little more than a collection of independent atoms.
The Oxford thinker T.H. Green argued that society was an organic whole, in which people pursue the common good as well as their own interests.
They are both individual and social in nature.
This led to the concept of positive freedom.
Define positive freedom.
Having the capacity to act on one’s free will and to realise personal potential.
Individuals controlling their own destiny - develop personal talents and achieve self-fulfilment.
Some limited state intervention to make this possible.
Why is there are complex relationship between liberalism and the state?
Liberals accept that the state is needed to avert disorder and to protect the vulnerable from exploitation.
But they mistrust power because they believe that humans are self-seeking, so may use any position of power to pursue their own interests, probably at the expense of others.
Why do liberals oppose the concentration of political power?
They fear that it gives people a greater incentive to benefit themselves and to use other people for their own ends.
Victorian liberal historian, Lord Acton - ‘Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.’
Define limited government.
Where the role of government is limited by checks and balances, and a separation of powers, because of the corrupting nature of power.
How do liberals argue for limited government?
They support the idea of constitutionalism to prevent a concentration of power.
Typical features of a liberal constitution include the separation of powers; linked to this are checks and balances - the branches are given some influence over each other and they act to check abuses of power.
Favour a bill of rights, which provides a clear statement of citizens’ rights and defines the relationship between citizens and the state.
Why do liberals often support devolution?
Suspicions of the concentration of power.
How does liberal emphasis on a limited role for the state have an economic dimension?
Liberals of the 18th and 19th centuries believed in laissez-faire capitalism.
Adam Smith - ‘The Wealth of Nations’ (1776) - emphasis the part played by self-interest in driving economic growth - ‘it is not from the benevolence of the the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for their own interest’
Define laissez-faire capitalism.
An economic system organised by the market, where goods are produced for exchange and profit, and wealth is privately owned.
