Q1 (a) Origins of Liberalism Flashcards
The origin of liberalism comes from the breakdown in feudalism and the growth of a market/capitalist society.
During the English Revolution in the 1600’s the first ideas of liberty began to take form and by the time of the American and French Revolutions in the late 1700s liberalism was an idea that all humans have individual natural rights.
The interests of a rising middle class began to conflict with the power of monarchs and the aristocracy which was considered to be absolute.
John Locke (1600s) and John Stuart Mill (1800s) were key figures in the development of the liberal tradition.
According to Locke, all humans were free and equal and that the absolutist political regimes of monarchy and religion were an imposition on individual liberty.
Locke opposed absolution and argued for constitutionalism, limited government and the right to revolution. However, Locke’s view of private property prevented him from endorsing political equality or democracy in the modern sense.
Mill on the other hand, was a man of the Enlightenment and opposed collectivism and traditionalism. His principles of liberty focused on quality of individual life and individualism.
However, Mill was concerned with democratization and the effect that mass opinion may have on individual liberty.
