IDEOLOGIES - Liberalism Flashcards
What are the core values of liberalism?
- Individualism
- Freedom and Liberty
- Reason/rationalism
- Consensual, constitutional and limited government
- Equality/social justice
- Toleration
- Pluralism
Who are the key thinkers of liberalism?
- John Locke (Classical)
- Mary Wollstonecraft (Classical)
- JS Mill (Modern)
- John Rawls (Modern)
- Betty Friedan (Modern)
[ALL] Outline the principles of the Enlightenment that helped build liberalism.
- Each person is born a free, rational individual who can decide what is in their own best interests
- An individual is not subject to forces beyond their control, but instead possesses free will
- We are born fundamentally equal
[ALL] How did the philosophy of individualism develop?
As societies moved away from collectivist feudalism, market-oriented societies gave people a much broader range of choices, such as for whom to work or where to live - they were encouraged to think for themselves.
[ALL] What did Kant describe individuals as?
‘Ends in themselves’, rather than means to others’ ends.
[ALL] How did individualism lead in two different directions?
- Classical liberals focussed on the uniqueness that defined individuals, leading some to believe in atomism and arguing that individuals ‘owe nothing to society for them.’
- Modern liberals focussed on the equality of individuality that all individuals have, leading them to believe egoism is tempered by social responsibility
[ALL] What is the issue with overpowerful governments?
- They claim to know what is people’s best interests, in spite of the rationalism of individuals to know
- They regulate behaviour even when actions do not affect others or threaten society
- It provides the opportunity to those in power to pursue their own self-interest at the cost of the wider public’s
[ALL] What is Mill’s ‘Harm Principle’ and how does it build into the role of the state?
There are two types of actions:
- Self-regarding actions: actions which do not affect other people
- Other-regarding actions: actions that affect others, largely adversely
People, and states, only have a right to intervene in liberty if it is constraining the liberty of others, or ‘self-protection’.
[ALL] What is the principle of freedom based on?
If individuals are taken as rational and capable of understanding what is in their interests, they should be given the maximum freedom to pursue those interests.
[ALL] Whate is ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ liberty? Who created them?
- Berlin named ‘negative liberty’ to describe Mill’s view that liberty is a lack of restraint
- Berline named ‘positive liberty’ to describe the idea of freedom of choice but this closely aligner with T. H. Green’s view that liberty arises from the personal fufillment we get from fulfilling our desire to promot the common good
[ALL] What is the liberal case for education?
Each generation is able to take the knowledge of the past and increase the stock of human knowledge; additionally, we are able to better ourselves by abandoning prejudice and superstition.
[ALL] What is the liberal case for debate?
As we are all rational, we are able to use debate to evaluate rival arguments on an objective basis, important given the existence of rival self-interests.
[CL] What was Locke’s argument for the state?
Self interested individuals are naturally going to come into conflict due to rival lines of interets, this may lead to the impediment of individualism; thus, an arbitrator is required to effectively resolve competing claims.
[ALL] What type of government do liberals believe in?
Government by consent, or a democracy - this is based on the liberty of individuals to control the actions of the government.
[ALL] Locke quote about government by consent:
“Government should always be the servant, not master, of the people.”
[ALL] What is ‘constitutionalism’?
The belief in a constitution that acts to restrict the power of the government, to avoid arbitrary authority or the ‘tyrrany of the majority’ (Tocqueville).
[CL] What was Mill’s fear of democracy? What was his solution?
Mill feared that the wider, uneducated public would vote within narrow class interests, rather than the good of others. He argued that representatives should speak for themselves, and for a system that allocated votes based on education and class.
[ALL] What was Locke’s case for democracy?
Locke argued that democracy allowed individuals to protect themselves from governments - controlling, through voting, the bodies that sought control over them, such as through taxation. This was taken up in the American Revolution’s slogan: ‘No taxation without representation.’
[ALL] What was Mill’s case for democracy?
He saw it as educational, promoting the ‘highest and most harmonious’ development of human capacities by engaging individuals and enhancing their understandings.
[ALL] What are the religious and non-religious justifications of equality?
- Religious: God is omnibenevolent so would give natural rights on an equal basis
- Non-religious: inequality is the creation of men exercising power over others
[ALL] Why do liberals believe in equality of opportunity?
Liberals accept that we have differing capabilities and potentials, so do not believe in absolute equality; rather the ability to reach fulfillment and our full potentials.
[ML] How did equality of opportunity change?
As the 1800’s wore on, it was becoming increasingly clear that there some individuals abilities to freely make choices was restrained by a lack of actual opportunity, with the Booth report naming the ‘cycle of deprivation’. Thus it was argued that, for real liberty to be achieved, some level of assistance is required.
[ML] What was the effect of the Beveridge Report?
William Beveridge argued that there were 5 ‘evils’ in society that restrict opportunity: want, ignorance, idleness, squalor, disease. He argued that a welfare state could ameliorate these and increase choice.
[ML] Beveridge quote about equality of opportunity:
“A starving man is not free”
[CL] Sumner quote against Modern liberal equality of opportunity:
“A drunk in the gutter is where he ought to be.”
- It is the responsibility of individuals to fulfill their potentials, not the state.
[ALL] What are the types of rights Modern and Classical Liberals believe in?
- Classical liberals believe in ‘negative rights’ to protect from contraint and allow us all to equally develop as we see fit
- Modern liberals believe in ‘positive rights’ to ameliorate obstacles to our development
[ALL] Votaire quote about toleration:
“I detest what you say, but i shall defend to the death your right to say it.”
[ALL] How did Mill justify toleration?
He argued that it was arrogant to prevent the expression of different beliefs as there is no way of knowing our views are correct and others are not.
[ALL] What is the liberal limit to toleartion?
In line with Mill’s harm principle, liberals believe differing beliefs and views can be tolerated as long as they do not impede the freedom of others.
[ALL] Outline Tocqueville’s conception of a pluralist society.
- Diversity of cultures, religions, ethnic groups and lifestyles that are tolerated and protected, granted they do not threaten the peace and security of society
- People are used to participating freely in such groups and they have access to the political system to influence decision making
[ALL] How does Mill bridge the gap between strands?
Mill believed in developmental individualism (many arguing that this was an entirely seperate form of liberalism, rather than either Classical or Modern) - the idea that people are capable of growing and wish to achieve their full potential - this idea is inherently individualistic but implies some right to an education, which opens the door for state intervention.
[CL] How does utilitarianism lead to belief in free market capitalism?
Give consumer goods produce satisfaction or happiness, the way to achieve maxuimum ‘utility’ would be for the market to allow people to purchase whatever they want within income constraints.
[CL] What is the political implication of utilitarianism? What else does this mean?
Utilitarians argued that the government can take certain actions to increase utility - this means that the government has to accept what people assert will satisfy them and should be limited to what the people as a whole prefer.
[CL] What were the 2 Classical liberal objections to utilitarianism?
- People aren’t just pleasure seeking machines, we have different goals that we ourselves define
- It can lead to excessive state intervention under the creed of maximum utility
[CL] What was the classical liberal justification for strict meritocracy?
Given that all individuals are born equally rational and capable of defining their own best interests, a society organised based on strict meritocracy would maximise efficiency as everyone would be in their best suited role.
[CL] What was Smiles’ case against government intervention?
Smiles argued in ‘Self Help’, that the disadvantages and challenges that the w/c face provide greater opportunities to grow and become more developed as individuals.
[CL] How did Spencer contribute to meritocracy?
Spencer applied the idea of natural selection, arguing that (given we are unequal in our aptitudes) a meritocracy allows only the ‘survival of the fittest’, also known as social darwinism, to rise and create a society based on self-reliance.
[CL] What is the classical liberal view on the state?
Guided by the idea of negative rights, the natural conclusion of the role of the government is to only intervene as a means of ensuring self-interested individuals’ courses of action are not inhibiting one another’s freedoms - or Mill’s Harm Principle - arguing therefore for a minimal state.
[CL] What is Adam Smith’s case for the free market?
The free trade capitalism enables the ‘invisible hand of the market’ to provide more efficient solutions than the state - additionally, the wealth created would trickle down to the rest of the population, if the government took a laissez-faire approach.
[CL] What is Manchesterism?
Manchesterism is an approach to free trade capitalism that focusses on the benefits to the w/c, such that the removal to tariffs and trade barriers would create cheaper goods to ameliorate poverty.
[CL] What was Rousseau’s issue with democracy?
Rosseua distinguished between the ‘will of the people’ (a collective expression of self-interest) and the ‘general will’ (the collective expression of the common good); even if the majority agree something, it may be the expression of their combined self-interested motives.
[CL] How does Mill’s view of tolerance play into the classically liberal view of democracy?
Democracies are often the tyrrany of majority, whereby the wider public is able to infringe on the negative freedom of individuals to engage in self-regarding actions (like homosexuality).
[CL] What is the classica liberal solve for an extended franchise?
The irresponsible voting of the unenlightened majority can be mitigated by an entrenched constitution that would protect the rights of individuals (also known as constitutionalism), as well as a pluralist system governed by consensus politics.
[CL] What was Locke’s view on consent?
Having lived in society governed by an overtly-religious doctrine, where authority is based on the ‘right of kings’ and all are subject on that basis, Locke argued that the ‘true’ state would be one created by mankind with its own consent.
[CL] How does Lock build on Hobbes’ state of nature?
Locke has a similar idea of a pre-state society; however, he argues that it was tolerable, governed by natural laws and natural righta. He then argues that the creation of the ‘state of law’ wasn’t to mitgate disorder, but to act as a neutral arbitrator for self-interested individuals.
[CL] What was Wollstonecraft’s main claim?
Wollstonecraft argued that the notion of reason should be equally applied to men and women, unlike the actions of state and society which implied women were less reasonable than men, such as not being allowed to vote. She further argued that, by disadvantaging half of society, we were inhibiting progress and leaving ourselves vulnerable to harmful doctrine.
[CL] What was Wollstonecraft’s case for education?
Wollstonecraft argued that women were also complicit in their own oppression, many only desiring motherhood - education would allow individuals to develop their rational faculties and realise their potential.
[ML] What is the origin of Modern Liberalism?
Modern Liberals emerged post-industrialisation, with the idea that simply ‘leaving people alone’ does not create freedom, that the goal of liberty requires some work of the government to ensure it - the idea of positive freedom.
[ML] What are the key characteristics of modern liberalism?
- Positive freedom and social justice
- An enabling, interventionist state
- A managed economy
[ML] What were Green’s two observations of Liberalism?
- We cannot consider ourselves completely individualised, we have social obligations and ties that lead us to care for the welfare of others
- Freedom is not just self-sufficiency, it is the chance for self-realisation.
[ML] What was Rawls’ case for meritocracy?
Rawls argued that if we are all placed behind a ‘veil of ignorance’, such that we do not know where we will end up in life, we will naturally create a society where the worst off do not have a standard of living less than what we would accept, thus creating a society where there can be individualism and social justice - this was key as the people in the hypothetical had ‘chosen’ this society, so was in line with government by consent.
[ML] How did Rawls refute the blurring of liberalism with socialism?
Rawls argued that modern liberals remain indifferent to inequality of outcome, believing still that we are not all naturally equal but that the most deprived members should not be locked into cycles that inhibit those with potential from fulfilling it.
[ML] What was Friedan’s case for state intervention?
Friedan argued that people are held back by discrimination based on innate characteristics like race and sexuality - state regulation via anti-discrimination laws (and sometimes ‘positive discrimination’) is the only way to genuinly ensure equality of opportunity.
[ML] How did Friedan use Mill’s ‘Harm Principle’?
She justified anti-discrimination policy by arguing that discrimination is inherently an ‘other-regarding action’ that the state has an obligation to intervene in.
[ML] How did Beveridge redefine freedom and argue for an enabling state?
Beveridge needed to justify greater state intervention, whilst maintaining individual liberty - he argued that deprivations like poverty and ineducation are as great curtailments of freedom and overzealous governments, and to ameliorate them would increase freedom, not decrease it.
[ML] What have been the main aims of modern liberal politicians?
Universal suffrage to ensure that none can be dominated by government without say, with Liberal governments overseeing the franchise to nearly all women and men, as well as 18 year olds - and modern politicians campaigning for Votes for 16.
[ML] What is the origin of Keynesianism?
Keynesianism arose in a period of scepticism towards free market economics, with failures like the Wall Street Crash of 1929 damaging beliefs that the free market could self-regulate.
[ML] Outline the principles of Keynesianism.
Keynes, unlike the ideas of free market thinkers, argued that the state has an active role in the economy, increasing aggregate demand during high unemployment by increasing public spending or decreasing taxation to ‘reflate’ the economy.
Give one way liberals agree on human nature
Both classical and modern liberals believe in the equality of all
- Locke: all humans are born free and equal
- Friedan/Wollstonecraft: gender equality and slavery abolitionism
(religious and non-religious explanations)
Give two ways liberals disagree on human nature
How individualistic
- Nozick: ‘left alone’
- Green’s two observations
How can humans flourish in society
- Locke’s egoistical individualism (Negative rights)
- Rawls’ veil of ignorance and enabling state (Positive rights)
- Mill’s developmental individualism
Give one way liberals agree on the state
Belief in the state to ensure liberty
- Mill’s arbitrator
- Friedan’s use of Mill’s harm principle
Agreement on liberty (social contract theory)
Give two ways liberals disagree on the state
Minimal v. Enabling state
- Mill: state should only intervene to arbitrate or stop actions that harm liberty
- Beveridge’s five evils and Rawls’ veil of ignorance
(Possible context of their creation)
Role of the state in the economy
- Utilitarian appeal to free market, Adam Smith
- Keynesian economics
(Possible context of creation)
Give one way liberals agree on society
Both agree that society should be organised to maximise equality of opportunity
- Wollstonecraft: equality of ration between genders
- Friedan’s use of the harm principle
(Religious and non-religious views of equality)
Give two ways liberals disagree on society
Disagreement over how to ensure equality of opportunity
- Beveridge: “a starving man is not free”, ameliorating the five evils
- Sumner: “a drunk in the gutter is where he ought to be”, Spence and Smiles
Disagreement on the role of the state in society
- Mill: state should only intervene to arbitrate or stop actions that harm liberty
- Beveridge’s five evils and Rawls’ veil of ignorance
(Possible context of their creation)
Give one way liberals agree on the economy
Belief in market capitalism
- Utilitarianism
- Manchesterism
- Keynesianism’s acceptance of capitalism
Agreement on individualism
Give two ways liberals disagree on the economy
Need for state intervention in the economy
- Smithian economics
- Keynesian economics
(Context of creation)
Need for taxation
- Nozick: taxation is theft
- Beveridge: need to ameliorate poverty
(Disagreement over what liberty is)
