Liberalism Key thinkers Flashcards
What book did John Locke publish?
‘Two Treaties of Government’
What did John Locke believe in regards to the state
- State was created by man and therefore should serve people’s interest with their consent (mechanistic view of the state)
- ‘necessary evil’
What did John Locke believe people were born with?
Natural liberties and natural rights
How did Locke believe that the state should react to these rights
‘social contract’, the state should respect and protect people’s civil liberties
What book did Mary Wollstonecraft write?
‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’
What were the main ideas of Wollstonecraft (2)
Women are rational and the need for formal equality
What book did John Stuart Mill write
‘On liberty’
What ideas of Mill were more modern liberalism
- saw some need for state intervention to help the poor
- favoured inheritance tax, as it upheld equality of opportunity
What is developmental individualism
- People have a desire to create a society in which each person can grow and flourish.
- Stress on what people can become, not what they are
What were Mill’s key ideas of tolerance
Tolerance should be upheld- ‘harm principle’
What was Mill seen as?
The link between modern and classical liberalism
What is egoistical liberalism
the idea that individual freedom is associated with self-interest and self-reliance.
What was John Rawls’ book
’ A Theory of Justice’ called for greater social and economic equality in society
John Rawls idea on the social contract (3)
Modernised the ‘social contract’, everyone should be guaranteed a life worth living,
- Building on the idea of natural rights.
- Positive Freedom
Rawls’ view on the economy (3)
- Economy should be regulated
- Advocated for the redistribution of wealth, narrowing the wealth gap
- Rational choice of the majority to make a more balanced society
