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Liberalism is apolitical andmoral philosophy based on therights of the individual,liberty,consent of the governed,political equality,right to private property, andequality before the law. Liberals espouse various and sometimes conflicting views depending on their understanding of these principles but generally supportprivate property,market economies, individual rights (includingcivil rights andhuman rights),liberal democracy,secularism,rule of law,economic andpolitical freedom,freedom of speech,freedom of the press,freedom of assembly, andfreedom of religion. Liberalism is frequently cited as the dominantideology ofmodern history.
Liberalism became a distinctmovement in theAge of Enlightenment, gaining popularity amongWestern philosophers andeconomists. Liberalism sought to replace thenorms ofhereditary privilege,state religion,absolute monarchy, thedivine right of kings andtraditional conservatism withrepresentative democracy, rule of law, and equality under the law. Liberals also endedmercantilist policies,royal monopolies, and othertrade barriers, instead promotingfree trade and marketization. The philosopherJohn Locke is often credited with founding liberalism as a distinct tradition based on thesocial contract, arguing that each man has anatural right tolife, liberty and property, and governments must not violate theserights. While theBritish liberal tradition emphasized expanding democracy,French liberalism emphasized rejectingauthoritarianism and is linked tonation-building. (Full article...)
Libertarianism (fromFrench:libertaire,lit. 'libertarian'; or fromLatin:libertas,lit. 'freedom') is apolitical philosophy that holds freedom, personalsovereignty, andliberty as primary values. Many libertarians believe that the concept of freedom is in accord with thenon-aggression principle, according to which each individual has the right to live as they choose, as long as they do not violate the rights of others by initiating force or fraud against them.
Libertarianism has been broadly shaped byliberal ideas. Libertarians advocate the expansion of individualautonomy and politicalself-determination, emphasizing the principles ofequality before the law and the protection ofcivil rights, including the rights tofreedom of association,freedom of speech,freedom of thought andfreedom of choice. They generally support individual liberty and opposeauthority,state power,warfare,militarism andnationalism, but some libertarians diverge on the scope and nature of their opposition to existingeconomic andpolitical systems. (Full article...)
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John Bordley Rawls (/rɔːlz/; February 21, 1921 – November 24, 2002) was an Americanmoral,legal andpolitical philosopher in themodern liberal tradition. Rawls has been described as one of the most influentialpolitical philosophers of the 20th century.
In 1990,Will Kymlicka wrote in his introduction to the field that "it is generally accepted that the recent rebirth of normativepolitical philosophy began with the publication of John Rawls'sA Theory of Justice in 1971". Rawls's theory of "justice as fairness" recommends equal basic liberties, equality of opportunity, and facilitating the maximum benefit to the least advantaged members of society in any case where inequalities may occur. Rawls's argument for these principles ofsocial justice uses athought experiment called the "original position", in which peopledeliberately select what kind of society they would choose to live in if they did not know which social position they would personally occupy. In his later workPolitical Liberalism (1993), John Rawls addressed the question of how political power can be exercised legitimately in a society where citizens hold diverse and often conflicting moral, religious, and philosophical points of view. (Full article...)
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—Thomas Hill Green,On the Different Senses of 'Freedom' as Applied to Will and to the Moral Progress of Man, 1879. |
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