Liberalism Flashcards
Liberalism
All liberals aim to promote individual liberty
Liberals value liberty
Brian Barry
Three things that characterize the development of liberal states from 16th century, onwards:
•Religious toleration
•Freedom of the press
•Abolition of servile social status
Liberal Ideas
•No religious dogma can reasonably be held with certainty
•Every doctrine should be open to critical scrutiny
•Fundamental equality of all human beings: inequality is an artifact
Liberalism is against
- Religious conformity
- Ascribed status – status determined by parents status at birth
- Feudalism – a set of hierarchal relationships, serfs and peasants vs. masters and lords
Human Nature and Liberalism
- Rational, self-interested
- Fair competition and equal opportunity
- Individuals should be free from legal barriers, customs, and conditions to live as they choose
Liberalism: Triadic Model of Freedom
agent: the individual
obstacle: laws, customs, or conditions that block individual choice
goal: to live as one chooses
Martin Luther
-not liberal, just key in reformation Protestant reformation •Against church corruption •Against priestly authority •Tradition and ritual vs. reading and doing
Jean Calvin
- French Protestant
- Became political and religious leader of Geneva
- The point of the reformation was not to enable people to believe as they saw fit, but literally to reform the Church so that people could believe as reformers thought they should
- Theocracy – Geneva became state where law of the city-state reflected God’s will
Reformation and Liberalism
- Protestant reformers prepared way for liberalism
- Luther and other reformers encouraged people to value individual conscience more than the preservation of unity and orthodoxy
- Liberalism began as an attempt to free individuals from the constraints of religious conformity and ascribed status
Liberalism in England
Thomas Hobbes
•Natural equality of individuals deciding for themselves how to set up political institutions
•The goal of political obedience is protection, if it doesn’t protect, you have no obligation to obey
•From liberal premises to non-liberal conclusions,
•believes ANY state is better than no state
John Locke (1632-1704)
Letter concerning Toleration
•Wrong for governments to force their subjects to conform to a particular religion
•Distinction between private and public matters
•Religious = private
•Governments should tolerate diverse religious beliefs unless they threaten public order
•Catholicism and atheist shouldn’t be tolerated for this reason
Liberalism in America
Thomas Paine
- Similar to the Second Treatise
- Government = necessary evil
- If it fails to protect our natural right, it violates our rights
- People have right to overthrow and replace with government protecting rights
Thomas Jefferson
- Declaration of Independence
1. “All men are created equal”
2. Defense of the rights and liberties of individuals against government
Liberalism in France
The old order’s three features:
•Religious conformity
•Aristocratic privilege
•Political absolutism – assertion of political power, King Louis as above the law
Revolutionary aim
- Originally to establish a limited government that would protect the natural rights of French citizens
- Overthrow the old order, replacing religious conformity with tolerance, aristocratic privilege with equality of opportunity, and absolute monarchy with constitutional government
Liberalism and Capitalism
- Seeking economic liberty
- Against mercantilism:One country could improve its economic strength only at the expense of others
Physiocrats:
Best way to cultivate wealth is not through regulations and restrictions, but through unrestrained free enterprise
•Laissez fair
Adam Smith
o Agreed with Physiocrats and defended laissez faire
o Attack mercantilism and monopoly
o Restraints on economic competition only serve the interest of those few people who are able to take advantage of them
o Fairest policy, giving people equal opportunity
o Self interest(desire for profit) will motivate people to provide goods and services
o It’s as if an “invisible hand” were directing all these self-interested competitors to serve the common interest of the whole society
Adam Smith 3 proper functions of government
- Defend country against invasion
- Promote justice and maintain order
- Provide “public works” and institutions that private enterprise won’t provide, such as roads and public education
•all the other matters are best left to private business of self-interested individuals, who should be free to make their way in the world as they see fit
Jeremy Bentham 2 conclusions about government
- Government could generally promote the greatest happiness of the greatest numbers by leaving people alone = laissez - faire
- Government is not likely to promote the greatest happiness of the greatest number if it is controlled by a small segment of society
