Core Principles of Liberalism
- Created by: s_yu
- Created on: 26-05-22 22:55
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- Core principles of Liberalism
- Individualism
- Emmanuel Kant: People should not be treated as an instrument to achieve a goal but should be viewed as the end goal themselves; people posses their own intrinsic value.
- 'Egoistical individualism' - Classical liberalism - people are self seeking and self reliant (society is only a collection of independant individuals.)
- 'Developmental individualism' - Modern liberals - Individual freedom is linked to create a society wherein each person can flourish but those who are disadvantaged may need state intervention.
- Tolerance = willingness to accept values, customs and differing beliefs E.g: liberals have relaxed view on same-sex relationships as they are private lifestyle choices
- Liberty
- Early liberals rejected the way governments made decisions on behalf of the people regulating their behaviour/ Modern liberals understood that freedom could not be absolute and in order to protect people, freedom must be exercised under the law
- John Locke: "the end of law is not to abolish or restrain, but to preserve and enlarge freedom... where ther is no law, there is no freedom"
- Jeremy Bentham: People are motivated by rational self interest where they pursue pleasure and avoid pain - "the greatest happiness for the greatest number". Gov should only prevent ppl from doing what they choose if it threatens others' freedom
- John Stuart Mill: People should only be restrained if their actions affect others (Negative Freedom)
- T.H. Green: Found Mill's concept of liberty too limited. Argued that society was an organic whole where the people peruse a common good as well as their own interests. Positive Freedom: People have the capacity to to realise their own potential and achieve self- fulfilment.
- The state
- Liberals accept the need for a state to prevent disorder but a wary of people's tendency to be delf seeking porbably at the expense of others
- Lord Acton: "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely"
- Liberals favour a limited gov: includes constituitonalism (gov is distributed through branches of power and limited by a set of laws), checks and balances (each branch of power checks eachother) and a bill of rights which defines the relationship between citizens and state.
- Liberals favour devolution due to suspicion over the concentration of political power - 1990s UK devolved bodies/ Federalism in USA where each state retains responsibilty for its own interna affairs
- Liberals favour laissez-fraie capitalism
- Adam Smith: "it is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard for thier own interest"
- Liberals accept the need for a state to prevent disorder but a wary of people's tendency to be delf seeking porbably at the expense of others
- Rationalism
- Liberals encouraged by the Enlightenment to allow individuals to freely think for themselves without guidance from authorities - faith in reason > progressive society
- Modern liberals support the League of Nations and the UN which soughts to bring countries together to debate disputes by surrendering some sovereignty
- Classical liberals believed there should be a neutral third party to resolve conflict - war is last resort (last resort)
- Social Justice
- Traditionally liberals believe that everyone should enjoy the same legal and political rights + equality of opportuinty
- Mary Wollstonecraft: women should have the same rights to persue a career and own property when married - until 20th century liberals did not exted all rights to women
- Modern liberals believe true equality is not possible without social justice. John Rawls: attmepted to reconcile liberal individualism with prevention of inequality
- William Gladstone believed in a meritocracy - introduced competitive exams to the civil serviece in 1870s (individuals with different talents should be rewarded differently)
- Liberal Democracy
- Classical liberals: free and fair elections, limited government, tolerance of diff views - promoting consensus
- John Locke's social contract and Thomas Hobbes' Leviathan
- Mill proposed more votes to the educated, alienating the uneducated masses
- Modern liberals would not agree with this as they agree with universal suffrage
- Individualism
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