LIBERALISM - Liberty Flashcards
What is the definition of liberty?
Is there consensus between Mod Libs and Clas Libs?
The ability of individuals to make decisions in their own interest, as guaranteed ‘under the law’ by liberals.
Individual liberty (liberty and freedom being interchangeable) is for liberals, the supreme political value and, in many ways, the unifying principle within liberal ideology.
ALL liberals have a deep commitment to liberty.
CONSENSUS BETWEEN CLAS AND MOD
John Locke and Betty Friedan
Locke wrote that ‘Men being… all free, equal, and independent, no one can be put of out this estate, and subjected to the political power of another, without this consent’
Centuries later, Friedan pointed out how this freedom should apply to women too, stating ‘who knows what women could be when they are finally free to be themselves’
TOLERANCE
Define what tolerance means
Is there consensus between Clas and Mod liberals?
A willingness to respect values, customs, and beliefs with which one disagrees.
YES THERE IS - all liberals are committed to tolerance of diverse views.
TOLERANCE
CLAS LIB
Voltaire
‘I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it’
TOLERANCE
MOD LIB
John Rawls
‘Society must tolerate the intolerance, for otherwise, the society would then itself be intolerant, and thus unjust’
NEGATIVE FREEDOM
Definition
‘The absence of external restrictions or constraints on the individual, allowing freedom of choice’
NEGATIVE FREEDOM
J.S Mill + Harm Principle
In ‘On Liberty 1859’, John Stuart Mill argued that: ‘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’
This is known as the ‘harm principle’, a key concept in negative freedom.
NEGATIVE FREEDOM
State
Negative freedom implies that the state will mainly intervene, only in matters of law and defence.
The state does not have responsibility for social welfare, only for maintaining and protecting freedom, or defending against foreign threats.
The result was a ‘minimal state’, which because it did little more than guard over its citizens, was also known as ‘nightwatchman state’.
Economically? This is known as Laissez Faire.
POSITIVE FREEDOM
Definition
‘Self-mastery as self-realisation: the achievement of autonomy or the development of human capacities’
The ability for individuals to develop and attain individuality, allowing people to fulfil their potential.
POSITIVE FREEDOM
State
- remember Beveridge
Through protection of the individuals from the social evils that cripple their lives, the state can expand freedom.
John Rawls and T.H Green outline this in his model of the Enabling State.
In the UK, this is known as the welfare state – this included the NHS.
The welfare state was proposed by William Beveridge (Liberal), during WWII, who created the Beveridge Report on the five giants: idleness, ignorance, disease, squalor, and want.
This was only implemented by a post-war labour government (Aneurin Bevan)
