LIBERALISM - Key Thinkers Locke and Mill Flashcards
JOHN LOCKE
Key work
An Essay Concerning Human Understanding
CLASSICAL LIBERAL
JOHN LOCKE
Natural rights
He believed there was a hierarchy:
Some were superior to others… some were born to rule, and others were born to serve.
This was called the ‘natural order’
Locke argued that everyone is born with the same moral status, and so consequently, no one is born with a natural claim to authority over others.
He believed that since we were beings who pursued self-preservation and happiness, that we all have the equal right to pursue self-preservation and happiness.
Locke argued that everyone has an equal claim to ‘liberty, life, and property’
Rights that were previously possessed only by the elite, SHOULD BE available to everybody.
JOHN LOCKE
Property of oneself
Labour-mixing
Locke argued that everybody has property right over themselves – self-ownership.
E.g., the king doesn’t have rightful control over you.
This significantly contrasted with the view that the monarchy owned EVERYTHING.
How can we come to have property rights? Locke argued for labour-mixing. This happens when a person uses their ideas, imagination, and creativity to transform previously unused physical material.
‘The great and chief end of men uniting into commonwealths, and putting themselves under government, is the preservation of their property’
JOHN LOCKE
Purpose of government
Locke considered the monarchy and the state.
He understood that life without kings and governments would be inconvenient for protecting our rights - third parties, or the law, would be fairer for resolving conflict.
This way, the non-violent resolution based in law would mean that both parties are justly either punished or compensated.
He believed the state emerged from this realisation – he argued for a just government; it protected people’s rights.
A just government seeks to protect people’s rights.
JOHN LOCKE
Was he a founding father of liberalism?
YES HE WAS - he wrote prior to liberalism establishing itself as a coherent ideology and so his ideas in the 17th century were the forefront of liberalism.
Two Treatises on Government became the cornerstone of liberal thinking.
JOHN LOCKE
Key ideas: Human Nature
Locke described humans as rational individuals who seek self-interest though are not fully egoistical for, they do care for others.
All are of equal moral worth, and are/should be given the natural rights of life, liberty, property etc.
JOHN LOCKE
Key ideas: Society
When exploring society, he believed in the raw form of society that existed prior to the state (he labelled this the state of nature) where people lived under natural laws and rights.
We should be tolerant, rational, egoistically individual. That’s what our society should facilitate.
JOHN LOCKE
Key ideas: State
‘rule by consent’
Locke believed in the social contract theory, which stated that the state is necessary for protecting rights as ‘When there is no law, there is no freedom’
He does differentiate though by claiming that the state should govern only by consent.
No rational person would choose to submit to arbitrary rule of a ruler with unlimited power – the social contract ensures that the citizen would obey the laws of the state, as long as the state’s laws reflected protecting ‘life, liberty, and property’.
This became a fundamental idea of classical liberalism; to limit government to a minimal state.
JOHN LOCKE
Key ideas: Economy
Locke wrote before capitalism had developed.
To him, ownership of property was a natural right, and the state judges between individuals competing for trade and resources.
When capitalism was established, classic liberals used this to implement the laissez faire economy.
JOHN LOCKE
Tolerance
Locke believed strongly in religious tolerance and cooperation.
in the 1600s, discrimination and wars regularly occurred because of religion.
Locke argued that rather than demanding uniformity, religious tolerance would allow for greater stability.
JOHN LOCKE
Individualism and the state quote
‘… no one can be put out of this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without his consent’
J.S MILL
Key works
On Liberty
Utilitarianism (all actions are useful if they benefit the majority of people)
The Subjection of Women
TRANSITIONAL LIBERAL
J.S MILL
Liberty Quote
‘The individual is not accountable to society for his actions in so far these concern the interests of no person but himself’
J.S MILL
Summary of the ideas of On Liberty 1859
*negative freedom
Mill was exploring to what extent can society legitimately exercise power over the individual.
This applied Mill’s ethical system of utilitarianism to society and the state.
The main idea is ‘negative freedom’, which argues that freedom involved restraint from others.
Also includes Harm Principle, which is the notion that individuals’ actions should always be tolerated unless these actions harms others.
J.S MILL
The first and second maxims outlined in On Liberty 1859
1st - ‘for such actions as are prejudicial to the interests of others, the individual is accountable, and may be subjected either to social or to legal punishment’
2nd - ‘If the individual does something to hurt somebody else, then that could be something that society has authority to step in to’
J.S MILL
‘Utilitarianism’ quote
Jeremy Bentham also believed in this…
‘The greatest good for the greatest number’
An action should always be defined by the effect of the value it adds.
J.S MILL
On the Subjection of Women - FEMINIST HELL YEAH
Quote
Mill argued for equal rights for women, not only as a liberal but also on utilitarian grounds – claiming that equal rights would produce greater general happiness for society.
‘No slave is a slave to the same lenghts, ad so full a sense of the word, as a wife is’
J.S MILL
Harm principle
Quote?
Self-regarding actions: religious worship, expression of personal views - should all be tolerated because they didn’t harm others.
Other-regarding actions: violence, theft, immoral behaviour all harms the freedom of others so it should NOT be tolerated by the state.
‘The only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others’
J.S MILL
Tolerance
Mill believed the toleration of diverse opinions was especially important because it would ensure new ideas emerged, whilst bad ideas were exposed in open, rational debate.
Also argued that the popularity of a view does not make it correct.
J.S MILL
Key ideas: Human Nature
Mill agreed with John Locke’s perspective on human nature, and he offers an optimistic view based on our human capacity to bring about progress.
Individuals are rational and self-interested.
Individualism, is integral.
But Mill puts forward the idea of individuality – an early form of developmental individualism, which anticipated later modern liberal ideas. Because of his ideas in Utilitarianism (!!!)
J.S MILL
Key ideas: Society
Mill believed civil society was an area of freedom of choice for individuals – this is in comparison with the state which was more of a realm of coercion.
He stated that the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over a member of a civilised community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others’
Another fundamental idea of Mill was that to ensure widespread freedom, tolerance of minorities should be maintained to help prevent the so-called ‘tyranny of the majority’
J.S MILL
Key ideas: State
Mill called for the highest and most harmonious development of human capacities – this means that he saw somewhat of an increased role for the state compared to the minimal state approach of the earlier classical liberals.
Consequently, he considered that the state should implement a greater representative democracy including women’s votes on an equal basis to men, whilst also being aware of minority rights.
J.S MILL
Key ideas: Economy
Mill was an economist AND philosopher – he supported laissez-faire capitalism, on the grounds that it provides incentives and promotes both individual initiative and progress through innovation.
He wrote at a time of great economic development in the Victorian era, based on the free-trade principles of Adam Smith.
J.S MILL
Democracy
Coined the term ‘tyranny of the majority’
He supported representative democracy! But he was concerned that voters would not choose intelligent representatives.
He believed that the vote should be withheld from the illiterate and unschooled, whilst greater votes should be distributed to those with university education.
J.S MILL
Equality of opportunity
J.S Mill addresses that equality of opportunity maximises the use of talent in the economy, and both Wollstonecraft and Friedan addresses that this needs to be extended for women.
