liberalism: thinkers

Question 1

John Locke

Answer 1

• all humans are born free and equal and have natural rights: life, liberty, property ownership, pursuit of happiness
• government should be by consent of the people and should be limited and accountable to avoid infringing on personal liberties (minimal state)
• social contract – government should be established by an unspoken agreement between the governed and the governors
• government agrees to govern according to natural laws while the people accept the authority of such a government
• human beings are rational, guided by the pursuit of self-interest, but mindful of others’ concerns (human nature)
• the state must be representative, based on the consent of the governed (state)
• society predates the state: there were ‘natural’ societies with natural laws and natural rights (society)
• state policy should respect the ‘natural right’ to private property and arbitrate effectively between individuals competing for trade and resources (economy)
• applies to freedom/liberty, state, equality
• classical liberalism

Question 2

social contract theory - John Locke

Answer 2

• the government should be reliant on consent from voters, rather than imposed on them from above
• according to Locke, individuals choose to leave the State of Nature and give up some of their individual powers to the government
• individuals join together to form society and consent to lose some of their individual powers in order to gain laws, judges and an executive
• individuals are rational and therefore believe that it is in their own best interests to consent to a government

Question 3

limited government - John Locke

Answer 3

• Locke supported the idea of limited government, rather than a lack of government
• he argued that ‘where laws do not exist, man has no freedom’
• the state is able to protect us from harm, and this ensures individual freedoms
• individuals have a right to their own property
• Locke believed that the state should protect an individual’s ‘life, liberty and estate’, and the protection of this should be the limits of government

Question 4

Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 4

• stressed that women had equal rights to men and women should be treated as rational beings just like men
• imagined a social order that was founded on reason
• identified lack of education as a big limiting factor on female progress
• rationalism defines both genders: intellectually, men and women are not very different (human nature)
• the monarchical state should be replaced by a republic which enshrines women’s rights (state)
• society ‘infantilised’ women and thus stifled female individualism (society)
• a free-market economy would be energised by the enterprise of liberated women (economy)
• applies to freedom/liberty, equality, rationalism
• classical liberalism

Question 5

a vindication of the rights of women - Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 5

• Wollstonecraft argued in this text that men and women are both rational beings that should, therefore, be treated equally
• Wollstonecraft argued that ‘the mind has no gender’, meaning that women and men have the ability for reason and rationality, but women have been denied education and so may seem less rational
• therefore, women should be educated to be rational members of society
• Wollstonecraft argued that both genders are rational - and so should be granted equal rights and liberties

Question 6

formal equality - Mary Wollstonecraft

Answer 6

• Wollstonecraft supported formal equality for women - equal rights
• this would give women liberty, which they were unable to have when constrained by the patriarchy
• Wollstonecraft also advocated for careers for women

Question 7

John Stuart Mill

Answer 7

• an individual is the best judge of their own interests and no one or nothing else can claim to know better
• actions can be split into those that only influence the actor – self-regarding (e.g., expressing religious beliefs) and those that influence others – other-regarding (e.g., anti-social behaviour)
• governments should control behaviour that affects other people but tolerate behaviour that does not, individuals should only be free to do the latter (harm principle)
• an entirely free society could be unjust so the state should interfere to correct these injustices
• though fundamentally rational, human nature is not fixed: it is forever progressing to a higher level (human nature)
• the state should proceed cautiously towards representative democracy, mindful of minority rights (state)
• the best society was one where ‘individuality’ co-existed with tolerance and self-improvement (society)
• lasseiz-faire capitalism was vital to progress, individual enterprise and individual initiative (economy)
• applies to individualism, freedom, state
• classical and modern liberalism

Question 8

‘on liberty’

Answer 8

• in ‘On Liberty’, John Stuart Mill sets out his view of the Harm Principle.
• ‘On Liberty’ focuses on the importance of individual freedom, and how this is vital to society and to the individual.
• Mill argues that it is important to have a society with lots of diverse characters.
• Mill believes that all individuals have free will and have responsibility for their own lives.
• this text links to liberal ideas of individualism, freedom and responsibility
• Mill writes about ideas and truth in “On Liberty”.
• Mill argues that just because an idea is popular, it is not necessarily true.
• Mill says that individuals should discuss ideas and test them out through discussion to see which ideas are true - for example by playing the devil’s advocate (arguing from the opposition position to one’s own).
• Mill believed that established beliefs should be challenged, and shouldn’t just be accepted because it is popular

Question 9

the harm principle

Answer 9

• the harm principle is the idea that an individual should be free to act as they wish, as long as they do not harm other individuals.
• John Stuart Mill argues that the only acceptable intervention in an individual’s liberty by the state should be to stop someone from harming another individual and limiting their freedom
• this supports the limited state, which has few coercive powers.
• we should not be able to undertake actions that limit another person’s freedom

Question 10

John Rawls

Answer 10

• reconciled liberalism’s belief in freedom with the need to reduce inequalities in society, thus addressing the issue that any action taken to reduce inequality will also result in a loss of liberty
• ‘original position’ - natural state of humanity that existed before society came about
• ‘veil of ignorance’: life is like a lottery as one cannot determine one’s likelihood of success, therefore we need to agree on a basis for society that is fair to all
• society would be formed with inequality but with a minimum standard of living so that no one falls below, and no one has so much that someone is forced below. If this did happen, the state would be free to intervene for social justice (enabling state)
• individuals should only be as free as possible so long as this freedom does not make problems for other people
• mankind is selfish yet empathetic, valuing both individual liberty and the plight of those around them (human nature)
• the state should enable less fortunate individuals to advance, via public spending and public services (state)
• the society most individuals would choose would be one where the condition of the poorest improved (society)
• free market capitalism should be tempered by the state’s obligation to advance its poorest citizens (economy)
• applied to freedom, state, equality/social justice
• modern liberalism

Question 11

a theory of justice

Answer 11

• Rawls tried to resolve the problem of balancing freedom and equality in ‘a theory of justice’
• Rawls argued that freedom and equality can be balanced in a principle he called ‘justice as fairness’
• ‘justice as fairness’ is the idea that the principles of justice in society are the principles that everyone in society would agree on if they assessed society from a position of ignorance

Question 12

veil of ignorance

Answer 12

• Rawls proposed a thought experiment in which an individual has to imagine which society they would want to live in but were unable to know their position in that society
• Rawls argued that all individuals would want to live in a society with a fair justice system, a good education system and equality of opportunity
• the veil of ignorance has been challenged - philosophers have argued that it does not take into account the possibility of some people choosing an unequal society in the hopes of gaining more, and accepting the risk that they might become worse off

Question 13

Betty Friedan

Answer 13

• sought for the equality of women and men
• fought against sexual discrimination and for equal employment opportunities for women
• sought for more freedoms for women such as the right to an abortion
• ‘the feminine mystique’ (1963): Friedan wrote about the “problem that has no name” - the problem of women limited in societal opportunities who had few options but to become wives and mothers
• human nature has evolved in a way that discourages self-advancement among women (human nature)
• the state should legislate to prevent continued discrimination against female individuals (the state)
• society remained chauvinistic towards women, though women were complicit in their repression (society)
• free market capitalism could be an ally of female emancipation, if allied to legislation precluding sexual discrimination (economy)
• applied to freedom, social justice/equality
• modern liberalism

Question 14

careers for women - Betty Friedan

Answer 14

• Friedan argued that women were just as capable as men to have careers, but that society restricted women’s options
• so, the oppressive laws and social views that restricted women’s opportunities should be changed
• for example, in America in the early to mid 1900s ‘marriage bars’ were in place in many organisations, which were policies used by firms to fire women when they got married, and not hire married women
• policies like this stopped women from having equality of opportunity

Question 15

opportunities for women - Betty Freidan

Answer 15

• Friedan’s work supported increased equality of opportunity for women, who were being held back from their potential by society
• Friedan argued for the rights of women to become self-fulfilled - supporting the liberal idea of self-determination and rationality