Classical Liberalism Flashcards
What are the 4 origins of self-interest?
- End of Christian Paternalism
- Enlightenment
- Industrial Revolution
- Social Change
In which century started self-interest?
In the 19th century
What are the main characteristics of the Enlightenment thinking? (4)
- Rational
- Scientific
- Spread into every aspect of society
- Contributed to scientific breakthroughs (leading to Industrial Revolution)
What are the consequences of the rise of Individualism ? (4)
- Growth of Individuals Rights
- Undermining certain types of authority
- Re-evaluation of how communities and society work and interact
- Loss of the religious view of being part of a community more than an individual
What are the main ideas of Individualism? (2)
- All men are created equal with unalienable Rights
- People have the right to abolish any Government that would restrain those
What are the 3 unalienable Rights?
Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness
Two books with Individualism ideas?
- Thomas Paine’s Rights of Man
- US Declaration of Independence
A movement in Ireland that has ideas of Individualism and Republicanism ?
The United Irishmen
Two aspects of the psychological creed of Classical Liberalism?
- The Pleasure and Pain Principle
- The 4 tenets of human nature
What are the 4 tenets of human nature?
Egoistic, coldly calculating, essentially inert, atomistic
What are the 4 sources of the Pleasure and Pain Principle?
Physical, political, moral, religious
What are the different types of pleasure in the Pleasure and Pain Principle?
Pleasures of sense, skill, wealth, amity, power, good name, piety, benevolence, malevolence, memory, imagination, expectation, relief
What are the different types of pain in the Pleasure and Pain Principle?
Pain of privation, senses, awkwardness, enmity, ill name, piety, memory, benevolence, malevolence, imagination, expectation, association
By what is the value of Pleasure and Pain Principle governed by? (8)
- Intensity
- Duration
- Uncertainty
- Certainty
- Fecundity
- Propinquity/remoteness
- Purity
- Extent
Two aspects of the economic creed of Classical Liberalism?
- Hobbes and the state of war
- Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments
What is the state of war of Hobbes?
The natural condition of mandkind is a state of war in which life is «solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short» because individuals are in a «war of all against all»
What do humans have according to the Theory of Moral Sentiments of Adam Smith? (6)
Habit of work, desire to truck exchange and barter, sense of propriety and sympathy, prudence, self-love, reason
For what does Adam Smith argue for in the Wealth of Nations -1776?
For an economic system with little unnecessary government interference that allows people to serve their self-interests
What are the objectives/promesses of the Wealth of Nations? (6)
- pursuing your self-interest
- creating free markets
- labour and wealth will be diverted to their most productive uses
- low prices and low wages
- constant striving for better product
- egoistic self-interest and competition produces the best results
What does Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand illustrate?
The hidden economic forces
What is the main idea the Malthus’s Theory of Population?
The population growth will always outrun the food supply without strict limits on reproduction
What are the preventative checks of Malthus’s Theory of Population?
Moral restraint, vice and birth control = reduce birth rate
What are the positive checks of Malthus’s Theory of Population
Famine, misery, plaque and war = increase death rate
Are rights guaranteed? Child labour: How many children are in child labour, and how many work in hazardous conditions ?
160 millions, nearly 1/10 children are in child labour.
Almost half of them work in hazardous conditions (ex: child mine workers).
Are rights guaranteed? Child labour: How many children live outside their birth country, and what are the consequences?
30 millions children live outside their birth country, increasing the risk of trafficking, sexual exploitation, forced work, etc
What did Classical Liberalism became today?
Neoliberalism
How does Monbiot define Neoliberalism? -2016
«Neoliberalism sees competition as the defining characteristic of human relations»
What are the main points of Neoliberalism? (6)
- Protect free markets and introduce new ones
- Small government
- Privatise state run businesses
- Protect profit
- State withdraws from economic activity
- Deregulate markets
What are the 5 criticism of Monbiot about Neoliberalism ?
- Cause of the 2007-08 financial collapse
- Collapse of public health services
- Services
- Social breakdown
- Environmental problems
Some examples of market issues
- Social media/Internet : should there be limits to these markets?
- Precarious employment
- Culture funds in the Irish economy
- Wages and cost of living
