IDEOLOGIES - Liberalism Flashcards
What are the 5 core values of Liberalism?
- Individualism
- Freedom and Liberty
- Reason/rationalism
- Consensual, constitutional and limited government
- Equality/social justice
Name the 5 Key Liberal Thinkers.
- John Locke
- Mary Wollstonecraft
- JS Mill
- John Rawl
- Betty Friedan
What did Kant describe individuals as?
“Ends in themselves” rather than means to others ends.
What are Liberals two issues with over-powerful governments?
- Governments are too paternalistic: they believe they know what is best for people better than they do.
- Governments regulate the actions of individuals even if they do not affect the lives of others.
What is Bentham’s ‘enlightened pursuit of self-interest’?
As humans, we want to pursue pleasure and avoid pain. Decisions made on such basis are the essence of freedom and as such, the government has now right to prevent them unless they are affecting other’s pursuit.
Define Mill’s two types of action.
Self-regarding actions: actions that do not affect others.
Other-regarding actions: actions that negatively affect others.
What is the difference between Bentham’s utilitarianism and Mill’s Harm principle?
Bentham believes that the ultimate goal of humanity is pleasure and a lack of pain.
Mill believes that people wish to self improve and become better.
Who created the idea of ‘negative liberty’ and what does it mean?
Berlin used it to describe Mill’s view that freedom is a lack of restriction.
Who created the idea of ‘positive liberty’ and what does it mean?
Berlin coined it to describe T.H. Green’s view that individuals achieve self-fulfilment through pursuit of the common good rather than just for ourselves.
How does the liberal belief in rationalism lead to a bias against paternalism?
Individuals are seen as capable of defining and pursuing their own best interests; as such, a government has no right to decide and enforce what is best for an individual.
Why do liberals believe in education?
People can better improve themselves and be self-reliant through learning and abandoning prejudice and superstition.
Why does Locke believe in a state?
Clashes between competing self-interested individuals may impede individualism so a state is needed to arbitrate effectively.
What is Roussesau’s ‘Social Contract’ and how does it link to consensual government?
Individuals ‘contract out’ of the state of nature and ‘into’ the formal state of law, agreeing to lose a level of negative liberty in return for something. It should be the free choice of every individual to ‘sign the contract’.
Why don’t liberals like majority rule, naming a thinker?
Tyrant of the majority - Tocqueville
What were Mill’s views on the uneducated voting?
He believed that the uneducated are more likely than the educated to vote within narrow class interests rather for the good of others.
What did Mill think voting should look like?
The illiterate don’t get to vote and the number of votes you get is allocated based on your education and social class.
How did later liberals justify democracy?
Voting can be used to check the government’s power: citizens can protect themselves from overzealous governments by voting them out.
Why did Bentham like democracy?
He believed it promotes the ‘greatest happiness for the greatest number’.
What is the central virtue of democracy for Mill?
It’s educational: by politically participating, citizens enhance their understanding of, strengthen their sensibilities and personally develop.
Why do liberals believe in equal rights?
Those that support the idea of ‘natural rights’ believe that God would obviously give them on an equal basis.
Others support a rational approach: there is no reason for inequality, it is the creation of men exercising power over others.
Outline Spencer’s ‘Social Darwinism’.
Given that we are unequal in our motivation and ability, some will inevitably succeed and others fail.
Summarise Smiles’ additions to Social Darwinism in ‘Self Help’ (1859).
It is those who adapt to the social environment who will excel, we succeed or fail of our own efforts - the working class are capable of improving themselves and ameliorating their poverty.
