Liberalism - Core Basic Notes

Origins:

• Found off enlightenment and a rejection in divine right of Kings and original sin.

Main Beliefs:

• Freedom is central to all
• Optimistic view of human nature
• Minimal role for the state so freedom is not restricted
• A tolerant society
• Economy differs – CL favour free market capitalism whilst modern liberals want state intervention.

Classical Liberalism:

• Rational human nature but egotistical individualism, government by consent with a night-watchman state with free market capitalism
• Will ensure the individual is free but does not violate the harm principal.

Modern/Progressive Liberalism:

• Belief in positive freedom to enable individuals to reach their full potential and their own version of the good life
• A big state with welfare which provides equality of opportunity to allow the individual to thrive. Based on the work of Keynes
• Legislation to end discrimination to promote tolerance and equality of opportunity

Neo-Liberalism:

• Belief in free market capitalism, night-watchman state.
• Private property and negative freedom is central to freedom and individualism
• Welfare state creating a dependency culture leading to people relying on the state rather than helping themselves

Liberalism - More Detailed Notes

Origins of Liberalism:

• Reformation: People no longer needed Priests, Pope and the Monarchy to tell them what to believe as the advancement of the printing press allowed people to think for themselves and form their own opinions hence Christianity could now undertake an individualist character with each man and woman undertaking private prayers and telling elements of religion they liked and removing those they disliked.
• Enlightenment: Belief in reason rather than faith (religion) and saw for the first time, people debating, questioning and scrutinising the status quo.
  • Individuals have free will and are the best judge of their character.
  • Locke who began to question why and how do people defer to the state (i.e those who govern them)
  • Rejection of Divine Right of Kings as humans have logic, calculation and deduction hence they should create a political system based on reason (mechanistic theory)

Human Nature:

1. Optimistic denying that mankind was flawed due to original sin (Enlightenment thinking). This means that humans can bring about progress and happiness. – linked to the ideas of Locke who rejected Divine Right of Kings and original sin. However, this goes against the ideas of Rawls who claims that mankind is still selfish, damaging those around us. Rawls believes in egotistical individualism.
2. Rational because we are optimistic. This means that humans are able to calculate answers to all problems. Debate, discussion and peaceful argument will be felt and a consensus will be reached (e.g Cabinet decisions are made through debate) and a rejection of “fate” and the “will of God.” Freidan would argue that the “problem with no name” could be solved through debate and stops women from being “miserable and empty.” However, this goes against the ideas of Wollstonecraft who claims that rationalism actually makes men and women different not equal.
3. Fixed claiming that individually are self-seeking (Egoistical individualism) but mankind still holds rationalism meaning that destructive selfishness and competition is not possible, leading to a peaceful and harmonious life. Underpinning the ideas of Mill who claims that human nature is not fixed, it is progressing to a higher level to achieve happiness. However, this goes against the ideas of Green who claimed that development individualism with positive freedom would lead to personal growth (hence some people work harder gain better results than others)

Society:

1. Natural as the state of nature would see “natural laws and rights” which have come before the state (i.e they have always been here) as the ideas of John Locke suggest. This means that life is not “nasty, brutish and short” as Hobbes claims but instead it is pleasant and peaceful. However, this goes against the socialist view that society is based upon the class you’re in.
2. Individual centric as Mill argued that each individual has a unique personality and will be rational and egotistic which drives their desire to fulfil their potential. This means that for liberals, the “individual is sovereign” seeking freedom for themselves, any society which denies individualism is dysfunctional (i.e America before the revolution). However, this goes against the ideas of socialists such as Marx and Engels who believed that society should be based on “each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
3. Property centric as Locke suggested because it is the expression of the individual as it the place in which “man has mixed his labour” in society. This means that, individuals can continue to develop their potential using equality of opportunity to nurture in society e.g by working and contributing to society through taxes and trickle-down, hence Liberal Democrats want employment to increase and liberal-conservatives such as Thatcher wanted employment to increase. However, this goes against the ideas of Marx who believed that property was a construct of capitalism and this should be replaced with social housing in modern society with communism.

The Economy:

1. Support capitalism. Liberals will defend a market based economy (an economy based on supply and demand) whilst rejecting fundamentalist socialists of rejecting capitalism. This is because property is a natural right as Locke said. This means that liberals support an economy that puts private property at the heart of economic arrangement as it is individualist in nature involving individual traders who are cooperating and competing. However, this goes against the socialist view of economy that Marx holds where communism will abolish private property.
2. Linked with the positive view of human nature. The ideas of Adam Smith where the obstacles to free-trade would be removed and the “invisible hand” would guide traders towards success bringing “trickle-down”. This is significant as it reflects the optimistic tone of liberalism which has been seen in human nature and essentially establishes the basis of most liberal economies in the modern world. However, a thinker such as Gidden would argue that the market should be based off privatisation and low taxes to create equality of opportunity.
3. Modern liberals believe that capitalism creates obstacles both socially and economically causing individuals not to reach their full potential as human nature describes. This leads to modern liberals such as Green to endorse Keynesian to bring economic prosperity through full employment and enhanced living standards through a welfare state as the free market is unable to achieve this. This is why the post-war consensus was advocated for so long until a neo-liberal like Thatcher reversed it.

The State:

1. Neutral umpire as Locke thought the state of nature would see individual clashes. But without a state, clashes, particularly those involving property, would not be solved rationally. This would lead to a society in which everybody in egoistical. Although this state is tolerable it is not what all liberals want, although this is the type of state classic liberals advocated (a night-watchman state). However, this goes against the Conservative view of the state which is to provide order, security and law through extra policing for example.
2. Belief in government by consent. Thinkers such as Locke maintained that the “government should always be the servant not master of the people.” This meant that liberals believed in social contract theory and should accept the laws but in return for the promotion of natural rights, enforced by the UN, equality of opportunity and a meritocracy as these all put the individual first. However, socialists think that the purpose of the state is to promote equality
3. Structure of the state should have constitutional government with formal equality as they have in the USA. This means that a government is kept rational i.e through the restrictions of the USA Bill of Rights and ideas such as the Rule of Law is maintained. However, this goes against traditional conservatives who argue that the natural ruling elite should govern in the interests of the governed.

Classical Liberalism:

• Radical Politically: Government by consent promoted the idea that the government should represent the will of the people rather than be master of the people.
• Radical in terms of gender: Optimistic view is extended, by Mary Wollstonecraft, to include women as well.
• Egotistic Individualism: Self-seeking humans looking to advance their own interests independently.
• Negative Freedom: Absence of restraint on the individual – people acting the way they want e.g free-speech. “A starving man is not free” – Beveridge. Individuals assume they are free until someone or something stops them i.e the courts.
• Night-Watchman State: According to Locke, the state must only act to protect “the peace, safety and public good of the people”. Right to impose it’s will on people through the harm principal (government can only interfere if someone else is being harmed). Checks and balances are vital
• Free-Market Capitalism/Laissez-Faire: Market economy based on property can deliver prosperity for the individual and society provided that free trade and competition exists. No tax or subsides but the state should ensure property is protected. Ideas of Adam Smith and the market force which would “guide the invisible hand” to enrich society and wealth which would “trickle down” e.g end of tariffs in the EU.

Modern Liberalism:

• Emerged as a result of poverty which appeared to restrict the individual’s ability to grow and flourish.
• Positive Freedom: TH Green argued that people were beyond the control of socio-economics as this restricted individuals. However, in modern society there was huge levels of inequalities and poverty therefore, freedom needed to be redesigned. Freedom was no longer absence of restraint but positive freedom which would enable people to reach their individuality. The state should not restraint freedom but promote freedom by protecting people from social injustice e.g poor health, unemployment and a lack of education.
• Enabling State: John Rawls thought that the state should become larger in order to extend the individual through more laws, state spending and taxes. This became known as a collectivism. Advancement of the welfare state could now be justified on the grounds it provided equality of opportunity. This allowed people to develop. Also used Keynesianism to bring full employment and economic growth so each individual could pursue their own version of the good life. Example: Post-war consensus in the UK: 1945-1979 and the Beveridge Report. However, this would mean people would have to pay some tax but this went with the principal of government by consent. It was not socialism because instead of improving society, it looked to advance the individual.
• Social Liberalism: Society has discriminated against minorities. This meant they felt greater toleration and equality of opportunity. This was consistent with positive freedom and enabling state. This means that there needs to be legislation in order to “level the playing field”. Modern examples are positive discrimination and affirmative action.
• Liberal Democracy: Because modern liberals want to extend the state, it has been keen to reform it through constitutional reform. Demands for a codified constitution, electoral reform and devolution. Also a want for universal suffrage and champion lowering the voting age to 16. Showed little enthusiasm for direct democracy (referendums) as this can cause a tyranny of the majority.

Neo-Liberalism:

• Seen as conservativism because it is reactionary and was advocated by Thatcher and Reagan through returning liberalism to its roots.
  • Aims to roll back the state (privatisation) with Keynesianism. Return to minimal state and free market capitalism.
• Free Market Capitalism: Would lead to a night-watchman state (e.g Thatcher giving more money to policing – stop and search)
• Negative Freedom: Central to freedom and individualism. Hayek argued that without private ownership of the press, there could be no freedom of the press.
• Welfare State: It is collectivism which is seen as socialism. Also creates a dependency culture leading to people relying on the state rather than helping themselves and being “individual.” This can be stopped through free markets and trade and globalisation to drive economic and social progress.

John Locke:

• Monarchy does not have a natural right to rule thus establishing a minimal state.
• Natural Rights: Humans are naturally free, independent and equal. State of nature would see clashes but as humans are rational, this could be solved through social contract. When the contract is broken by not protecting rights, the people revoke their consent e.g American Revolution. Constitutional state with checks and balances. The state is a neutral umpire.
• Liberty & Individualism: State of nature would be free but clashes would limit individualism thus entering the social contract.
• Fiduciary Power: The clear separation of powers will prevent an abuse of power but the legislature should be the supreme power but this is fiduciary (acting on behalf of others)

Mary Wollstonecraft:

• Equality & Rights: Women had no formal equality making them slaves in a political and civil sense. Therefore women should have formal equality and individualism to ensure that there is true government by consent
• Revolution Controversy: Burke had rejected the American Revolution but Wollstonecraft supported it and argued for Republicanism – a political system without a monarch.
• Criticisms of Aristocracy & Republicanism: Formal equality must be given to all individuals and not just men.

John Stuart Mill:

• Criticism of hedonism: The idea that happiness is the ultimate good. Distinguished between the lower pleasures such as eating and drinking and replace them with the higher pleasures of life.
• Freedom & Integrity: Developed the idea of negative freedom as the absence of restraint where the government should only intervene if the harm principal was being exploited.
• The Individual: Liberty is more than a natural right. It is the key to ongoing development and learning. Liberty drives progress and allows people to full their individuality “as diversity of character and culture” enables reasoned debate. The role of the state is only to constantly improve their mind to increase their higher pleasures. Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”.
• Self-regarding & other regarding actions: To clarify tolerance, Mill divided human action into “self-regarding” and “other-regarding”. Self-regarding involved robust expression or religious worship whilst other-regarding involves violent behaviour which clearly harmed the freedom of others and should not be tolerated by a liberal state. This meant that new ideas would emerge whilst bad ideas would open up through debate and discussion.

John Rawls:

• Concept of Justice: Developed the idea of ‘original position’ where people construct the type of society they would like to live in. People would be under the veil of ignorance. Rational individuals would choose a more equal society. Thus enabling state by avoiding poverty which is a powerful position.
• Principals of Justice: Distributive justice as inequalities of wealth are legitimate as they provide incentive for people to work but only as long as they raise income and wealth for the poorest.

Thomas Hill Green: iHHs

• Role of the state: The state should remove hereditary privilege thus freeing the poor from the 5 social evils Beveridge said.
• Negative and positive freedom: Positive freedom had emerged as the individual could rise above the narrow concerns of the self-interest to the contribute to the best of society. Can be done by removing hereditary privilege by freeing the poor.

Betty Friedan:

• Equal Rights: Women need to be set free by getting a good education and a career. It is possible for marriage, education and career for an individual to thrive if formal equality is granted – a classical liberal approach.
• Civil Rights & Feminist Movement: Illiberal attitudes in society rather than human nature caused women to underachieve. This has been spread through “cultural channels” like school, media and religion. This has made women think that their life has been determined by human nature rather than rationality.

Liberalism - Social Liberalism, Neo-Liberalism, Tensions within Liberalism, Liberalism Today & Summary of Key Thinkers

Social Liberalism:

• This represents an updated version of the historic liberal belief intolerance. It involves legislation that may criminalise actions that discriminate against individuals on the grounds of race, gender, sexual orientation, disability, and religious persuasion.
• Betty Friedan argued that too many individuals in western society were held back on account of innate factors such as ethnicity.
  • She argued that this was not down to individuals, but she thought the legislation was the reason for this. Known as positive discrimination.
• The Sex Discrimination Act and the Race Relations Act in 1975 and 76 held back this belief. Now natural rights were in place.

Key Thinker 5: Betty Friedan 1921 – 2006:

• All individuals should be free to seek control over their own lives and the full realisation of their potential. She argued like Mary Wollstonecraft that gender was a serious hindrance to all those individuals were female
• Illiberal attitudes in society, rather than human nature made most women underachieve and this is reinforced by cultural channels such as school and the media
  • Makes women convinced that they are determined by human nature rather than their own rationality and enterprise.
• Whilst a feminist, she was a liberal as evident from the fact that she always disdained violence and wanted more legal equality.
• She rejected that the state was patriarchal and forever under the control of the dominant gender.

Neo-Liberalism: Liberalism Or Conservatism:

• Friedrich Von Hayek said it was the “third strand” of the liberal ideology. He argued that radical change, not conservative stability – a choice, he argued, based upon their boundless faith in human potential.
• A mix between social policy and conservatism e.g David Cameron and his promotion of marriage via the tax system – an unwelcome example of state intrusion into people’s private life.

1. Reapplies the idea of Adam Smith and Thomas Jefferson to modern societies and modern globalised economises.
2. Offers a liberal critique of modern liberalism, accusing it of a betrayal of individualism and a sell out to socialism and conservatism.

• Neo-liberals have been labelled conservatives, as their views are seen as reactionary rather than progressive, seeking to restore the economic arrangement of the novel ideas for the future such as Thatcher’s New Right.

Summary Of Key Thinkers:
	Human Nature:	The State:	Society:	The Economy:
John Locke:	Human beings are rational, guided by the pursuit of self-interest, but mindful of others concerns	The state must be representative based on the consent of the governed	Society predates the state: there were natural societies with natural laws and natural rights	State policy should respect the natural right to private property and arbitrate effectively between individuals competing for trade and resources
Mary Wollstonecraft:	Rationalism defines both genders intellectually, men and women are not very different.	The monarchical state should be replaced by a republic which enshrines women’s rights	Society ‘infantilised’ women and thus stifled female individualism	A free market economy would be energised by the enterprise of liberated women
John Stuart Mill:	Though fundamentally rational, human nature is not fixed, it is forever progressing to a higher level	The state should proceed cautiously towards representative democracy, mindful of minority rights.	The best society was one where individuality co-existed with tolerance and self-improvement	Laissez-faire capitalism was vital to progress, individual enterprise and individual initiative
John Rawls:	Mankind is selfish, yet empathetic, valuing both individual liberty and the plight of those around them.	The state should enable less fortunate individuals to advance via public spending and public services	The society most individuals would choose would be one where the condition of the poorest improved	Free market capitalism should be tempered by the state’s obligation to advance its poorest citizens.
Betty Friedan:	Human nature has evolved in a way that discourages self-advancement among women	The state should legislate to prevent continued discrimination against female individuals	Society remained chauvinistic towards women though women were complicit in their repression.	Free market capitalism could be an ally of female emancipation if allied to legislation precluding sexual discrimination.

Tensions Within Liberalism:

1. Human Nature: Liberals believe that individuals are generally rational and intelligent but Loke and other neo-liberals argued that humans are innately blessed whilst Mill and modern liberals like Rawls tend to think that such qualities are potential features of human nature to be developed by enlightened liberal authorise.
   1. Liberals should endorse Mill’s concept on individualism.
2. Society: Classical liberals believe that human society predates the state.
   1. Modern liberals believe that industrialised and urban societies are those where individuals are less autonomous and therefore require state support to be free (positive freedom).
      1. Neo-liberals may believe in a reduction in the state and may argue for an individual pursuing self-interest.
3. The State: All liberals believe that the state should function according to prearranged rules and procedures with power and authority subject to the consent for the government.
   1. Classical liberals like Mills believe state intervention should be minimal and individuals left unchecked.
      1. Modern liberals believe in positive freedom.
         1. Also problems in how democratic the state should be. Modern liberals want representative democracy whilst early classical liberals saw democracy as a threat to property rights.
4. The Economy: All liberals believe that the economy should be based on private property and private enterprise.
   1. Classical and neo-liberals support Adam Smith’s thesis where a laisse-fair attitude to the economy.
      1. Modern liberals have more sympathy for the view of John Keynes where capitalism require regular state management to ensure full employment. Modern liberals support supra-national organisations as the EU whilst neo-liberals see them as an obstacle to global free trade.

Liberalism Today:

• The collapse of the Soviet communism in 1989 and the emergence of new capitalist states in Eastern Europe, strengthen the idea that market economies and liberal democracy represented ‘the end of history’
• Globalisation made states embrace capitalism, but many modern liberals pointed out that once individuals are given economic choices, it is increasingly hard to deny them political and philosophical choices as well.
• Society seems to be assuming an even more liberal character. Choice and determination have been fuelled by the expansion of capitalism and diverse lifestyles.
• New Labour in the UK embraced economic liberalism by revising clause 4. Cameron’s Conservative Party embraced social liberalism by promoting same-sex marriage bolstering ‘government by consent’
• Terror attacks brought back a more period like the Enlightenment and people are becoming less tolerant.
• Supra-national organisations like the EU brought things like UKIP and populist political movements like Trump
• Locke’s view of human nature was peaceful, but the world is anything less than peaceful and the relevance of liberalism itself becomes questionable.

Liberalism - Modern Liberalism & Positive Freedom & John Rawls

• Mills began to question other people – would it really be enough to leave them alone?
• Created modern liberalism which brought many new characteristics

Positive Liberty/Social Justice: Late 19^th Century – Early 20^th Century:

• New liberals re-examined the core principles of liberalism and reached radical conclusions about liberty.
  • Green and Hobhouse argued that modern society made a mockery of the idea that individuals were autonomous.
  • Individuals are subject to social-economic forces beyond their control. Impossible for people to have self-realisation – a restriction on liberty.
  • They introduced positive freedom: Denotes the belief that individuals are left alone are often inhibited rather than free. Such individuals needed enabling so that they are free to exercise their natural talent.
  • Led to liberals wanting to be free from poor health care etc – raised a question – how might this happen, brought on the next section.

Enlarged & Enabling State:

• Classical liberalism was strongly associated with the idea of minimal government closely linked to negative liberty.
• Modern liberals had no qualms about a new larger state could repel, new socio-economic threats to freedom and individualism.
  • They wanted more laws, state spending and more taxation.

Examples – The Quest For Social Justice:

• UK: A liberal government between 1906-1910. Provided one of the earliest instances of modern liberalism in action. The ‘people’s budget’ which introduced the state pension and increased taxation.
• USA: F.D. Roosevelt’s ‘New Deal’ where the state steered the economy and managed to secure employment
• The Beveridge Report: Britain’s post war state where citizens had been threatened by their freedom and individual poverty such as poor education and unemployment. Can only been overcome by state provision.

Enlarged & Enabling State #2:

• Having embraced collectivism, modern liberalism faced charge that it had betrayed classical liberalism and was now blurred with socialism.
• John Rawls argued for an enlarged state could guarantee the equality of opportunity to enable individual freedom.
  • Needed some work like more taxation but some individuals could still be persuaded that it was good and necessary. He wanted to enable the state: Extending the state’s activity so as to liberate individuals from restrictive social and economic problems thus enabling them to fulfil their potential.
• He argued that modern liberalism aimed to improve those less fortunate in society, but this was seen as the inevitable side effect of individual freedom and was the key difference with socialism.
• He insisted to ameliorate (improve) the social and economic condition of those who were deprived in society to enable them to fulfil their full potential. The gap between the rich and the poor did not matter.

Key Thinker 4: John Rawls (1921-2002):

• Thought to have been the most important modern liberal thinker.

1. Core liberal idea of foundational equality means that individuals are not just requiring formal equality under the law but they need greater economic equality.
   1. Could be done under a redistribution of wealth via an enabling state with more taxation.
2. The redistribution of wealth was not ‘a surrender to socialism’ but was actually in line with liberal thinking.
   1. He asked people to conduct an ‘original position’ whereby individuals would be asked to construct a society to be superior to the one they’re currently in. They should have no ‘veil of ignorance’ where they have preconceptions about people.
3. Human nature would lead to individuals to choose a society where poor people had better conditions. He wanted a larger state with more taxation and wealth redistribution.
4. Most individuals would choose to improve the poor but they would still want self-fulfilment and inequalities of outcome. He wanted the poor to live better but did not want to narrow the gap between the rich and poor – thus his ideas were away from socialism.

• Equality of opportunity – the liberal side
• Giving people equal opportunities to get jobs, work and to exceed. Give people an education let them do their best.
• Still got to develop themselves and work as hard for themselves within that context.
• Equality of outcome: we’re going to tax the rich, their pay would be enhanced but this gap should not narrow. Liberals are not interested in this idea as it is more a socialist idea.

Constitutional Reform/Liberal Democracy:

• Modern liberals want constitutional reform.
  • They want: a codified constitution, devolution of power, a more accountable HOL and electoral reform.
• Yet ultimately, they want a liberal democracy, completing the link between the core liberal values and universal suffrage. Such as a liberal PM in the late 1940s whom enabled equal rights for women and to lower the voting age to 16.
• This has shown little interest though, a fear that referendums and initiatives threaten the ‘tyranny of the majority’ and dilute representative democracy to protect liberal values.
  • Demonstrated by modern liberals support for the UKs Human Rights Act and widespread enthusiasm for supranational bodies such as the EU.
  • The UK’s decision to leave the EU was very much a ‘tyranny of the majority’ and these decisions should only be left to a liberal government.

Has Modern Liberalism Abandoned The Principal Of Classical Liberalism:
Yes:	No:
Classical liberalism defined liberty as individuals as being left alone. Modern liberals do not believe this and think that people will be enabled via interreference from others. (negative vs positive freedom)	Both classical and modern liberalism have an optimistic view of human potential
CL championed a minimal state, ML champion an enlarged, enabling state.	Both classical and modern liberalism believe in rationalism and insist upon tolerance of minorities
CL saw taxation as theft and wanted to restrict it. ML see taxation as the key method for implementing positive freedom	Both classical and modern liberalism see individualism as the goal of politics and society – they differ merely about how to achieve it
CL favoured laisse-faire capitalism from the which the state is detached. ML prefer Keynesian capitalism where the state seeks to manage market forces	Both classical and modern liberalism believe in capitalism and oppose state ownership of the economy
CL has an ambivalent view of democracy, increasing the interests of property owners. ML have championed representative democracy	Both classical and modern liberalism believe in a constitutional (‘limited’) state and ‘government by consent’

Liberalism - Later Classical Liberalism & John Stuart Mill

The Beginnings:

• As countries such as the USA and UK began to industrialise, individuals had a growing sense of class consciousness and as a result, concepts like democracy and socialism began to grow in interest.
• Liberalism needed to strike back to remain relevant, 4 thinkers provide an interest into how different these differences are.

Jeremy Bentham’s Ideas’ (1748-1832):

• Writing at a period when England had industrialised, Utilitarianism: Society should help as many of possible including the working class.

• Developed a scientific alternative to the natural rights theory based on the idea that each individual would seek to maximise their own ‘utility’ by maximising personal pleasure and minimising personal pain.
• This would cause more clashes between individuals than early classical liberals would have thought.
  • The liberal state would have to be more proactive. ‘The greatest happiness of the greatest number’ to inform legislation and government policy.
• He found ‘democracy’ and thought that governments were more likely to follow ‘greatest happiness of the greatest number’ if they were elected and accountable to ‘the greatest number of voters’. Laws should be passed in order to ensure that people were happy of the most amount of people.

Samuel Smiles’ Ideas (1812-1904):

• Individualism was being threatened by socialism as it was related to liberalism whereby they wanted more state provision.
• Industrialised societies made it harder for individuals to be self-reliant as many people were unemployed.
• To overcome this, individuals should be challenged more rigorously.
  • If “self-help were usurped by state help, human beings would remain stunted, their talents unknown and their liberty squandered’

Herbert Spencer (1820-1903):

• A contemporary of Smiles, he acknowledge the importance of self-help and wanted more state intervention like Smiles.
• He argued against the challenge that humans could rise to the challenge. Noting that some humans were still “feebly failing”. These failing people need more state intervention.
• Instead he agreed with natural selection and though that the “survival of the fittest” stemmed from minimal state intervention and negative freedom.
  • It would later lead to the gradual elimination of those unable to enjoy the benefits of individualism. The eventual outcome would be a society where rational self-reliance was the norm and where individual freedom could thrive.

Key Thinker 3: John Stuart Mills (1803-1873):

• JSM was important as it took place at a time (mid-19^th century) when many liberals were struggling to work out how liberalism could harness trends towards universal suffrage – “tyranny of the majority”.
• Updated representative government into representative democracy. People would not make policy decisions but rather elected liberally minded representatives to make decisions for them. You should have the view of different people and then work with the majority of the view.
  • People would later create “direct democracy” which he claimed was a much more conductive to the “tyranny of the majority”
• He thought voters would be ill-equipped to vote for people so universal education should go along with universal suffrage.
  • He promoted Development Individualism: An idea that individuals could become what they want rather than what they had become.
  • Those with no education should get no vote whilst those who were university education get one more vote.
• After universal education had been reached, he thought that political education was the next step where people could form their own political opinions instead of having some enforced on them.
• He remained vague in what he meant, he did not mention if he agreed with a minimal state. The successors (modern liberals) were prepared to answer this with more clarity and boldness – not just in education.
• He argued for negative freedom where freedom mainly involved an absence of restraint. It was connected to the harm principle – a notion that a individual’s actions should always be tolerated either by the state or other individuals
• Divided human actions into self-regarding and other regarding. It does not impinge the freedom of others in society and should therefore be tolerated and not in a liberal state. This was seen as bad but Mills argued that this is what he wanted as new and better ideas would emerge.
• He saw liberty as a ‘natural right’ and he thought human nature was not the finished article.
• He did not want to just liberate individuals as they were present, he created individualism which later became developed individualism. It was better to be a “pig satisfied”.

Liberalism - Early Classical Liberalism & Mary Wollstonecraft

Classical Liberalism – 17^th Century-19^th Century:

• Because of how big it is, it is helpful to break up the types into early and later classical liberalism.

Early Classic Liberalism – 17^th Century-18^th Century:

1. Revolutionary Periods: Locke said that the state should be driven by the representatives. This is the core principles of liberalism. Now this is commonplace in western democracies and this requires vigorous argument and sometimes revolutionary upheaval.
   1. They wanted to remove the ‘divine rights of Kings’ which secured Constitutional government and the end of concentrated political power. This inspired the American revolt against the British crown. Both advocate the separation of powers and the principles of government by consent.
      1. The core idea of rationalism was far from firmly accepted in the 18^th century. An idea that society should be geared to maximum individual freedom. Some argued that women was affront to individual liberty and affronting to individual liberty of over half of the adult population.
      2. Wollstonecraft said that women were only emotional creatures, suited to marriage and motherhood. “Keep women in a state of listless inactivity and stupid acquiescence”
         1. She thought that men and women required education to release their innate powers of reason – this would be liberal.
2. Negative Liberty: Charles-Louis Montesquieu were conscious that individual liberty – a “natural right” was vital to self-determination and self-reliance, as well as being the condition of government by consent.
   1. Early liberals like Wollstonecraft tried to relate such ideas to the individual liberty of women. The term liberty however needs definition as no one knows what it means.
      1. Negative Liberty: A key feature of classical liberalism, this is the notion of freedom that involves individuals being left alone to pursue their destiny. Any attempt to interfere with individual actions may therefore be judged an infringement of liberty.
      2. Individuals are naturally ‘free’ until someone puts a brake on their action. People still have freedom, they can just choose if they want to use it.
3. Minimal State: A feature of classical liberalism, the minimal state was one that reflected the concept of ‘negative liberty’ by minimising state activities – for example, legislating and taxing infrequently as possible, while confining its rage to areas such as defence and the protection of private property.
   1. Governments should not be limited in terms of what they do, but they should co-exist with the minimal state.
   2. Thomas Jefferson (one of the Founding Fathers) noted: “The government that is best is that which governs lease when government grows, our liberty withers”
   3. There should be checks and balances.
4. Laissez-Faire Capitalism: Based on the liberal belief in private property and the classical liberal belief in negative liberty, this is an economic system which allows private enterprise and capitalism to operate with little or no interference from the state.
   1. Adam Smith noted: “the invisible hand of market forces” and “trickle down” to the rest of the population just as long as the State took a “let it happen” approach to the market economy. He wanted an end to duties and tariffs.

Key Thinker 2: Mary Wollstonecraft:

• John Locke set the foundation of liberal thought in the 17^th century but in the 18^th century, it was Wollstonecraft who set the foundation. Whilst her main work was a feminist movement, it remains a more liberal movement.
• Her primary claim was that the Enlightenment view of human nature and the assumption that it was guided by reason should apply to all humans.
  • Both society and the state implied that women were not rational and they were denied individual freedom and formal equality. Women for example were not allowed to own their own home and scarified little individualism they had in order to become wives. Women could not speak out against this which goes against the ‘government of consent’ view liberals hold
• Nations like England were limiting the stock of their intelligence. “Such arrangements are not conditions where reasons and progress may prosper”. Genders have left society vulnerable to doctrines that threatened the spirit of the Enlightenment
• She welcomed the American and French revolution. She supported a Republican government and formal equality involving a constitutional defence of individual rights. But this freedom must be given to all, not just men.
• Formal education should be given to as many women and men as possible. Without tuition, individuals could never develop their rational faculties, never recognise such “absurdity” such as the “divine rights of kings”