liberal thinkers and their ideas

harm principle definition

• concept that the state may only rightfully coerce individuals to prevent harm to others, not for their own good

minimal state definition

• concept of a limited government to protect individual rights, maintaining law and order and national security

enabling state definition

• government that takes an active role in promoting equality of opportunity and social justice, rather than just protecting property

john locke - social contract theory

• Constructed the concept of a ‘state of nature’, which was a state of perfect freedom, a state of foundational equality and bound by a law of nature

• Q: “be a state of liberty, yet it is not a state of licence … the state of nature has a low to govern it, which obliges everyone”

• Q: “peace, goodwill, mutual assistance and preservation”

• Locke however realised that if natural laws were violated that the victims must enforce the laws themselves (due to an absence of state or authority)

• Locke theorised that individuals would come to to view the state of nature as unsatisfactory and thus agree to transfer these rights to a government

• This theory formed the foundations of social contract theory: the idea that legitimate government is established by the explicit consent of those governed

john locke - limited government

• Locke argued that citizens do not have an obligation to obey all laws, especially if they originate from an arbitrary or unlimited government

• Locke believed that government is established to protect natural rights - if these are violated, the citizens have a right to rebel

• Q: Locke believed in limited government - the legitimate role of government is limited to the protection of “life, liberty and property” - government shouldn’t expand beyond these minimal functions: 1. maintaining public order and protecting property, 2. providing defence against external attack, 3. ensuring that contracts are enforced

• Q: “ revolt is the right of the people”

john locke - freedom under law and economic freedom

• viewed private property as the embodiment of individual liberty

  • Argued that all individuals’ labour powers belong to them - this labour power can be used to create property which belongs to them

  • Locke had 4 stipulations to the creation and ownership of property:

    • Individuals can’t take something if it involves harming someone else

    • Individuals can’t take possession of more than they can use

    • Individuals must leave “enough as good” for others

    • Individuals can only acquire property by their own labour

john locke - rights

• Locke emphasises natural, inalienable moral rights that apply to all individuals (human rights)

  • Locke saw these as the right to life, liberty and property

  • One of Locke’s principal justifications for the government was a protection of these rights and that the purpose of law was to preserve and enlarge freedom

  • Q: “where there is no law, there is no freedom”

john locke - toleration

• Locke argued that the government should not use force to try to convince people that a certain view is true

• Q: “The care, therefore, of every man’s soul belongs unto himself, and is to be left unto himself”

mary wollstonecraft - reason

• Wollstonecraft maintained the belief that women were deserving of the same fundamental rights, opportunities and education as men

• Wollstonecraft aimed to promote the view that women were humans first and foremost, not a separate species from men

• Q: “I shall first consider women in the grand light of human creatures, who, in common with men, are placed on this earth to unfold their faculties”

mary wollstonecraft - independence

• Wollstonecraft believed that girls and young women should be made to acquire ‘inner resources’ to make them as psychologically independent as possible

• Q: “I wish to show that elegance is inferior to virtue, that the first object of laudable ambition is to obtain a character as a human being, regardless of the distinction of sex”

• Wollstonecraft wanted to enable wopmen to become rational and independent beings who sense of worth came not from their appearance but from their inner perception of self-command and knowledge

• Q: “taught from infancy that beauty is woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison”

mary wollstonecraft - education

• Wollstonecraft believed that women were seen as secondary to men in society, a result of the discriminating system of education

• Wollstonecraft endeavoured to transform the entrapment of women in society by increasing their access to education and basic female citizenship

john stuart mill - harm principle

• Mill views the harm principle as the sole legitimate basis for restricting individual liberties

john stuart mill - individuality

• Mill’s ideas on individualism acts as a bridge between classical liberal views of egoistical individualism and modern liberal views of developmental individualism

• Mill believed that individuality was the foundation of a healthy society and feared the ‘tyranny of the majority’

• Mill was against the despotism of custom, which describes the stifling, conformist pressure of tradition and public opinion that inhibits individual growth and societal progress

• Mill saw tolerance as an important aspect of protecting individualism

• Mill distinguished between higher and lower pleasures

  • Lower pleasures were physical ones all mammals needed, such as food, drink, exercise, sexual relations and shelter

  • Higher pleasures were limited to humans who had intellectual, cultural, philosophical and spiritual capabilities, such as art, music, poetry and socialising with and entertaining other

  • Q: “It is better to be a human being dissatisfied than a pig satisfied; Socrates dissatisfied than a fool satisfied”

john rawls - justice as fairness

• Rawls’ theory of justice recommends equal basic rights, equality of opportunity and promoting the interests of the least advantaged members of society

• Guiding principles of a just society:

  • Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive liberty compatible with a similar liberty for all (COMMITMENT TO LIBERTY)

  • Social and economic equalities are to be organised so they are both to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged and allow all positions and offices to be open to all under conditions of equality of opportunity (DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE)

  • Rawls’ believes liberty takes importance over distributive justice

• Rawls believes a just society is achieved through education, welfare and healthcare

• Rawls believed that capitalism on its own could not ensure fairness

john rawls - the original position, veil of ignorance and the difference principle

• The original position is a hypothetical scenario where people are set the task of reaching an agreement about how the create a just society

  • Rawls argues these decisions are made behind a veil of ignorance where knowledge of one’s gender, race, age, intelligence, wealth, skills, education and religion are unknown

  • Rawls argued that this was the best way to ensure no one considered their own vested interests

• The difference principle is the idea that all rational individuals under the veil of ignorance in the original position would advocate an unequal society, but one where differences between individuals would not be too great

betty friedan - problem with no name

• Q: Friedan describes the ‘problem with no name’ as “the problem lay buried, unspoken for many years … a sense of dissatisfaction, a yearning that women suffered … Each suburban [house]wife struggled with it alone. As she made the beds, shopped for groceries … she was afraid to ask even of herself the silent question - “Is this all?””

• The problem with no name is linked to positive freedom, developmental individualism and equality of opportunity

  • Friedan asserts that women were unable to thrive, grow or develop in society as their choices were predetermined to a role of domesticity

  • Friedan argues that women were as capable as men of any type of work or career path

  • Friedan revealed a pervasive paternalistic culture which sough to keep women in a lower position in society with the argument that that was their ‘natural role’