Liberalism - Topic 1 Flashcards
Core ideas and principles of Liberalism and how they relate to human nature, the state, the economy and society
Describe the core principle of individualism in liberalism
The preservation of individual rights and freedoms above any claims by the state or groupings within society are of paramount importance. Locke focused on the individual rights of man and bleieved in foundational equality. Locke and Mill perceived individuals as capable of intellectually informed ideas but as self-interested and indifferent to each other.
What is a classical liberal’s attitude towards individualism?
An individual’s primary motivation is for egotistical individualism so that they can thrive to the best of their ability. The freedom of the individual is sacrosanct. The state should be small, limited to maintaining law and order and protecting society from invasion, so that it doesn’t infringe on individual freedom and respect formal equality. Classical liberalism influenced the American revolutionaries, who put certain human rights in the Constitution and the state must uphold and protect.
What is a modern liberal’s attitude to individualism?
Argue for positive freedom. The state practises a form of developmental individualism to help make society a fairer place. Modern liberals can broadly agree with classical liberals on the concept of self-reliance but argue that the state must offer a ‘hand up’ for every individual to achieve their goal. The influence of modern liberalism has resulted in the expansion of the state and welfare provision.
Modern liberals would agree that ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness’ are human rights. However, whereas classical liberals argue for a minimal state to ensure these values, modern liberals believe that only an interventionist state can guarantee such freedoms.
Describe the core principle of freedom/liberty in liberalism
Early liberals resented how authoritarian government and absolute monarchies retained full legitimacy, often at subjects’ expense. Freedom is intimately connected with the law and a natural right. The role of the government was to protect people’s right to ‘life, liberty and estate’. A state should be constructed by social contract where individuals are governed by consent, and act as a neutral mediator in clashes. The people are within the right to withdraw their consent if the state breaks the contract and replace with a new government.
What is a classical liberal’s attitude towards freedom/liberty?
Classical liberal John Locke created his own social contract theory where his version of the state of nature was guided by rational reason and had its own ‘natural’ laws. Locke argued that individuals would rationally concluded that they would best serve their own interest by contracting into a ‘state of law’ to reconcile the competing individual interests present in a state of nature. Classical view is quite atomistic.
What is a modern liberal’s attitude to freedom/liberty?
Modern liberals believe society is organic and that there is a common good and that public interest coexisted with individual interests. Limited state intervention was necessary to facilitate developmental individualism which would increase individuals’ capacity to be free. Freedom from a state was not originally recognised and that freedom could be threatened by social or material disadvantage within a society and economy. Modern liberals also support positive freedom, as well as negative freedom.
Describe the core principle of the state in liberalism
The liberal attitude to the state and its size, role and limits has changed between the branches and is critical to the ideology’s development. Classical liberalism argues for a minimal state while modern liberals argue for an enabling state.
What is a classical liberal’s attitude towards the state?
The state is a necessary evil. The state must intervene to uphold the rule of law and to protect society from foreign invasion. These require institutions such as police forces, armies, laws and a judiciary. ‘Government should always be the servant, and not master, of the people’ with it being organised based on rational ideas, not traditional, a constitutional government replacing a monarchy and arbitrary government, and it should be limited in its power and jurisdiction.
What is a modern liberal’s attitude to the state?
State intervention should be permitted to assist the poor who experience injustice in society and the economy. People could continue to develop, which would require a greater involvement of the state and mass education to advance individual potential and create a liberal consensus within society. Modern liberals are mostly led by the harm principle to the extent to which the state can interfere.
Describe the core principle of rationalism in liberalism
Liberals believe that rationalism enabled individuals to both define their own best interests and make their own moral choices, free from external authorities such as the state and the Church. Liberals have far more confidence in society’s intellectual ability to construct theories to create a progressive society.
What is a classical liberal’s attitude towards rationalism?
It is on a liberal cornerstone that laws exist in order to prevent incitement to racial and religious hatred. Targeting minority groups on the basis of bigotry is particularly abhorrent to any true liberal. In all countries and throughout the ages, liberals refute the notion that human behaviour is shaped by the irrational forces of superstition and religion. Instead, they claim that adults are fully capable of making decisions based upon their own reasoning.
What is a modern liberal’s attitude to rationalism?
Modern liberals urge state intervention to assist individual freedom which was a key rationalistic updating of classical liberalism. Universal education argues that the state must be enabling facilitating developmental individualism and but still pursue a free-market economy.
Describe the core principle of equality/social justice in liberalism
Liberalism initially focused on foundational equality and the rule of law so that no individual could be exempt from society’s structures. However, early on, foundational equality often left out both gender and racial equality.
What is a classical liberal’s attitude towards equality/social justice?
Both the US Bill of Rights and UK HRA both legally protect what classical liberals consider natural and inalienable rights of individuals however classical liberals largely ignored all types of equality. Classical liberals also do not believe in complete economic equality either, as is reflected in early thoughts on representative democracy.
What is a modern liberal’s attitude to equality/social justice?
Modern liberals is the strand of liberalism most associated with supporting full foundational equality and champion women and racial minorities, but also groups the earlier modern liberals wouldn’t have considered, such as gay people, or even imagined, such as trans people. Modern liberals argue that foundational equality in itself is not enough to guarantee equality of opportunity, and that to guarantee true social justice individuals must have access to a full welfare state encompassing education, healthcare, the minimum wage and welfare provisions. Rawls’ ‘veil of ignorance’ highlights this thought well.
Describe the core principle of liberal democracy in liberalism
The concept of liberal democracy is underpinned by the social contract theory whereby the government only holds power in trust for the people whom it serves. Liberal democracy was initially representative democracy, which offered only a very limited form of democracy.
What is a classical liberal’s attitude towards liberal democracy?
Classical liberals accept the supremacy of the people as a broad concept of the social contract, which doesn’t equate to full democratic representation. Classical liberalism struggles with such concepts like the existence of a common good or public interest as it views society as atomistic and therefore any collective will is difficult to support. Classical liberalism still values the individual as a rational, moral and active citizen and are political and civically equal.
What is a modern liberal’s attitude to liberal democracy?
Modern liberals insist that supremacy of the people means that every adult should have the vote. Developmental individualism and social justice base their version of society on more collective aims such as a welfare state. The rule of law and peaceful methods of conflict resolution forms part of the social contract between the governed and the governors and the consent of the governed as the basis of legitimacy is shown with frequent elections for the governed to register their consent.
