Liberalism

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What is the meaning of liberalism ?

Liberalism Was The Product Of The Climate Of Opinion That Emerged In Europe During The Renaissance And The Reformation.   As An Ideology And Way Of Life, 'it Reflects The Economic, Social And Political Aspirations Of The Emerging Middle Class Which Later Became The Capitalist Class' .  

  The Main Slogan Of The Protest Was Freedom From Any Authority Capable Of Acting Voluntarily And Arbitrarily And At The Same Time The Freedom Of The Individual To Develop All His Potentialities.   The Initial Aim Of Liberalism Was More Destructive Than Constructive; Its Purpose Was Not To Clarify The Positive Objectives Of Civilization, But To Remove The Obstacles In The Path Of Development Of The Individual.  
During The Last Hundred Years, It Faced Challenges From Other Ideologies And Political Movements Such As Democracy, Marxism, Socialism And Fascism.   It Absorbed Democracy And Socialism To A Large Extent In The Name Of The Welfare State, Fought Fascism Fiercely But Could Not Defeat Marxism.  
 
Understanding of Classical Liberalism 

Classical Liberalism Is Called By Various Names Like Negative Liberalism, Individualistic Liberalism, Laissez-Faire Liberalism, Free Market Liberalism, Integral Liberalism, Core Liberalism Etc.   About Man, Society, Economy And State.  

 A New Philosophy Of Classical Liberalism Emerged, Which Expressed  Writings Of Different Thinkers.  Prominent Among Which Were Thomas Hobbes, John Locke,Adam Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Bentham, James Mill, JS Mill, Herbert Spencer, Will Senior And Thomas Paine.  
 

How does liberalism see man and society ?

Man: It Considered Marl To Be Selfish, Egotistical, Alienated But Based On The Same Logic.   It Believed In The Absolute Worth And Worth And Spiritual Equality Of Individuals.   It Was Believed That Personality Could Be Enhanced By Increasing The Choice And That External Restraint Should Be Minimal.   It Said That The Individual Is The Basis Of All SocioEconomic And Political Systems.   Man Was Considered The Measure Of Everything.   It Was Believed That Man Is Endowed With Certain Inalienable Natural Rights Based On The Law Of Nature; Chief Among These Were The Rights To Life, Liberty And Property.   Those Rights Which Did Not Depend On The Mercy Of The State Or Society, But Were Vested In The Personality Of The Individual.  

Man: Only The Person Knows What Is Best For Him.   For The Development Of His Personality, He Needs Some Freedom From Arbitrary Officials Who Act Against His Will.   It Was Freedom From Both Society And The State.   It Was 'freedom Of Liberty' And Not 'freedom'.   Hobbes Describes It As 'Silence Of Laws'.   Berlin Defines It As 'Absence Of Coercion'.   Milton Friedman Called It ``State, Society Or Is Described By Nozick As 'the Coercive Absence Of Men.   Their Fellow Men'.   Flew Defines It As The Absence 0.  F 'Social And Legal Constraints'.   According To Nozick, This Is A Manifestation Of 'self-Ownership'.   It Is A Natural Right .  

Society: Classical Liberalism Saw Society As An Artificial Institution, Not A Natural One.   It Was Seen As Being Made Of Atoms Like Autonomous Individuals, With Specific Desires And Interests For Themselves.   Society Was An Artificial Institution Intended To Serve Certain Interests Of The Individual.  

 
Despite The Creation Of Man, Classical Liberalism Viewed The State In Purely Negative Terms.   It Was Declared A Necessary Evil.   It Was Necessary Because It Could Only Provide Protection Of Law, Order, Life And Property, But It Was Also An Evil As It Was The Enemy Of Human Liberty.   Since Liberalism Regarded The Rights And Freedoms Of The Individual As Sacred, Any Increase In The Functions Of The State Was Seen As A Reduction In The Liberty Of The Individual .  
The Philosophy Of The State As A Necessary Evil And The Self-Regulating Economy Left A Very Limited Role For The Government.   The Liberal Slogan Was 'The Government That Governs Least Is The Best'.   

Locke views: 

Locke Declared That No One Can Be Subjected To The Political Power Of Another Without His Consent.   Freedom For Them Means Freedom From The State.   The State And Government Were Considered Restrictive Institutions.   Locke Propounded A Principle Of Natural Rights To Life, Liberty And Property, For The Protection Of Which The State Comes Into Existence.   He Envisioned Rights Before The State.   The Basis Of The State Is A Contract From Which The Ruler Or Ruled Can Get Rid Of.   Government Is The Result Of Individual Will, Civil Society Is Sovereign And State Is An Artificial Institution Created For Some Specific Purposes Like Order, Security, Protection Of The Rights Of Life, Liberty And Property.  

The Nineteenth Century Produced A Group Of Writers Called Philosophical Radicals Such As Bentham, James Mill And Js Mill.   The Theory Propounded By Him Is Known As 'Utilitarianism', Which Dominated Liberal Thought For More Than Half A Century.   Utilitarianism Provided A New Theoretical Basis To Liberalism.   It Was Based On The Principle Of Hedonism.   

 With All Pleasures Being Impossible, Man Must Seek The Greatest Happiness In Terms Of Quantity.   Similarly, Since The Greatest Happiness Of All People Is Impossible, We Must Seek The Greatest Happiness Of The Greatest Number.   Bentham Applied The Principles And Methods Of Utility In The Fields Of Law, Politics And The State.  

Mill Divided The Activities Of The Individual Into Two Parts: In Relation To Himself And In Relation To Others.   The Action Itself May Include Matters That Affect The Individual Himself, And Have No Concern With Others.   While The Individual Was To Be Free To Do Things That Affected Himself Alone, His Freedom Was Restricted In Matters That Affected Others.

Critical Evaluation: Society Was Also Seen As An Aggregate Of Individuals, An Artificial Institution With No Organic Unity Of Its Own, And The Function Of Politics Was To Transform Individual And Group Conflict Into Cooperation, Harmony And Unity.   I11 In Other Words, Society Is More Than A Forest Where Animals Roam In The Guise Of Men.   Socialist Ideology Completely Rejected This Notion Of Man And Society.   It Argued That The Indians Are Dependent On Others Not Only For Material Needs But Also For Cultural And Spiritual Needs.   Socialism Saw Man As A Social, Cooperative Animal And Held That The Study Of Man's Nature Cannot Be Done In Isolation From The Society In Which He Lives.  

 

 Liberalism Has Been The Firm Ideology Of A Class Within The Urban Entrepreneurial Middle Class Of An Era That Later Became The Industrial Capitalist Class.   It Has Been The Economic Philosophy Of Capitalism And Its Basic Objective Has Been To Maintain The Socio-Political Arrangements Necessary For Capitalist Economic Relations.  

Liberalism's Attitude Towards The Poor, Trade Union Activities, Education, Health, Housing, Social Security Is A Testimony To The Fact That In The Final Analysis All Questions Are Related To Profit.   The Entire Economy Is Geared To Produce For Profit For The Owners Of The Means Of Production, However, An Economy Controlled By The State May.