Liberalism

By Ralph

Locke

Classical liberalism

Social contract theory - Society, state and government are based on a theoretical agreement

Limited government

Wollstencraft

Classical liberalism

Rationalism should apply to all humans including women

Formal equality and education rights for women

Stuart Mill

Classical/Modern liberalism

Harm principle - people should be free to do what they want provided it doesn’t harm anyone

Tolerance - People should tolerate others within society and accept a difference in views

Rawls

Modern liberalism

Vail of Ignorance

Supports an interventionist state and everyone should have the same start in life

Friedan

Modern liberalism

Legal and social equality for women

People should have equal opportunities but women are held back by societal norms of what is deemed ‘acceptable’

Classical Liberalism

Night watchman state - state is only there to protect people

Negative freedom - freedom from interference

Free market economics

Egoistical individualism

Modern Liberalism

Enabling state

Positive freedom - Freedom isn’t about being free from restraint but about having the capacity to achieve one's potential

Keynesian economics

Developmental individualism

Rationalism

The idea that all people act rationally, capable of reason and logic, and will pursue their own self interests

Meritocracy

The idea that people should rule by merit - ability, effort and talent - rather than by wealth or social status.

Foundational Equality

The idea that all individuals are born equal in moral worth and status, and therefore deserve equal legal and political rights.

Mechanist theory

The idea that society is not organic but is created through reason and consent

The state is to serve the individual, not the other way round

If the machine(state) no longer works it can simply be replaced or redesigned, based of social contract theory