LIBERAL THEORY

LIBERAL TRADITION

It's more of a political ideology that explains:- social reality; interprets it

● Liberalism in politics is associated with non authoritarianism, the rule of law, constitutional
government with limited powers, and the guarantee of civil and political liberties- Samuel Freeman

● In political thought, it is associated with non authoritarianism ,the rule of law, constitutional
government with limited powers, and the guarantee of civil and political liberties

● In economic thought, liberalism is associated with an unplanned economy with free and
competitive markets, as well as private ownership and control of productive resources.

● In international relations, liberalism extends its proclivity toward freedom and tolerance by
advocating freedom of trade and cultural relations, idealism instead of realism, international
cooperation and institutions rather than isolationism, and soft power instead of power politics. (This
is not to say that liberal governments are consistent in realizing these ideas in practice.)

HISTORY

Sustained struggles against hierarchy for example- The phase of revolutions.

● 2 views- ancient & modern. Ancient view emphasises on active participation of citizens- collective

power is emphasized. Modern is peaceful enjoyment and private independence.

● Earliest liberals were protestant reformers who challenged orthodox catholic church [16th CE]-

repudiated the authority of clergy to interpret ‘true religion’.

USAGE OF THE TERM ‘LIBERAL’

In politics, the term liberal was first applied in 1814 to the liberales members of the Cortes, or
Spanish parliament,who advocated constitutional rule and restoring customary liberties. Similarly, in
1830s France, “un libéral” was anyone who opposed the restoration of the ancien régime and
favored constitutional government (Fawcett,2015, pp.7–8).

● From the 1850s until the 1920s, the Liberal Party was one of two major parties in Britain, and the
term now is used by dozens of political parties throughout the world that are center-left, center, and
center-right in their policies.

These parties generally share apolitical commitment to civil rights, representative democracy, and
free economic markets with private ownership.

● In American politics, for example, liberal is a term reserved for the center-left Democratic Party
and its policies, or

progressive parties farther left, like the Green Party, while Republicans insist that they are
conservatives and use liberal as a term of abuse, even though they are the party of classical
economic liberalism.
CLASSICAL LIBERALISM GOVT STAND

Limited government, rule of law, inviolability of private property.

● John Locke- aim and justification of government is to protect the life, liberty and property of
citizens.

● These are natural rights. This will be provided by a system of justice.

● Citizens right is protected by the government that is why they accept the authority. So if the
authority transgresses- there is a right to oppose the political authority.

● Therefore, government should be able to justify its position. Justification should be based on law.

MODERN LIBERALISM

Believes that man is a progressive being with an unlimited potential for self-development. The
sanctity of private property and the requirement of state as an institution to protect it.

● It values distributive justice. Ability of the individual to make meaningful choices and be
responsible for them.

● Immanuel Kant for individual autonomy. Individuals according to Kant should be free from
external coercion, threat or manipulation to implement one’s choice.

● He held that all human beings are equal in their capacity for autonomy, that this capacity explains
an individual’s moral responsibility and human dignity, and morality requires everyone to be
respectful.

Therefore, individuals are entitled to equal respect, without any hindrance

John Stuart Mill further argued that it is morally impermissible to interfere with the actions of
individual even if they are motivated by irrational or emotive considerations, provided the action in
question do not harm others.

The actions have to be autonomous in existence of others.

● Disagreeing with Bentham’s utilitarianism, Mill opposed paternalistic interference intended to

benefit individuals. This opposition is based on the liberal belief that individuals know best what is
good for them and even if they are mistaken about this, it is better to allow them to make mistakes
than impose an alien view about what is in their best interests.

● Governments must adhere to the requirement of not imposing what they think is best for their
citizens. This would promote as Mill hoped and justified, a diversity of way of life.

● What links both the traditionalist and modernist is an opposition to absolute power, a distrust of
political authority and a whole-hearted affirmation of the values of freedom and autonomy of
individuals.

CONTEMPORARY LIBERALISM

John Rawls- set the contemporary debate.

● He revived the social contract theory of Locke, Rousseau and Kant, both redeployed and
deepended Mill’s vindication of liberty in a free society, and argued against conventional
judgements, especially those of utilitarianism that treated individuals as means towards attaining
the collective good.

● A liberal state, according to Rawls must not only guarantee that all its citizens have an equality of
fundamental liberty rights such as voting, and freedom of speech, religion and association; those
who are least-well off to be assured a good life.

● Rawls asserts that freedom should never be sacrificed on the grounds of an increase in material
well-being.

● He upholds egalitarian liberalism that is hospitable to redistribution experiments.

● A central trait is citizens are entitled to live in accordance with their own.

● John Rawls- free the idea of what is right and just from the idea of what is good or advantageous

THINKERS WHO CONTRIBUTED TO THE THEORY

1. T.H.Green- liberty is the enjoyment of equal conditions of self-development by all. Social

regulation by the state for the promotion of common good is essential.

● 2. Harold Laski- he rejected the view that liberty means the absence of external restraints. He was
convinced that only in a socialist society that liberty can be achieved in the real sense and that
liberty has no meaning except in the context of equality. He wrote, “ By liberty I mean the eagre
maintenance of that atmosphere in which men have the opportunity to be their best selves.”

● Liberty therefore is closely associated to right. It is essential for the development of personality.
He also elaborated certain safeguards- no special privileges, rights of some should not be dependent
on pleasure of others, state action to not be biased.

● So here the authority of the state should not be absolute because then individual liberty isn’t
secure. The institution of property is a chief obstacle. He thought to combine soicalist objectives
with liberal values of positive liberty.

LIBERAL COMMUNITARIAN DEBATE

It endorses multi-cultural values.

● There is a shift from value of freedom and a minimalist state to over a range of

diverse but interconnected topics that is freedom, rights, equality, distributive

justice and pluralism.

● However at the core it is individualist in nature.

CONCLUSION
Therefore each opportunity to flourish without fear of persecution is what liberalism should be.

● Open society would promote the value of diversity but this shouldn’t be hierarchical.[it means
discriminatory in nature]

● Alan Ryan-’ the way in which liberalism institutionalizes self-criticism itself is a guarantee of its
progress

MERITS

Free expression of one’s personality. It is opposed to arbitrary authority.

● A change which is gradual and incremental. The state can introduce legislation aimed at changing
the structureof society but the process has to be slow; it should not infringe the domain of personal
liberty.

● Inalienable rights of the individual.

● Attack on the Hegelian concept of state. It disfavours the idea of an omnipresent, absolute state. It
lays emphasis on personality of the individual and social groups, and regards state as little more than
a federation of groups/unions.

● It believes in humanism. It supports weaker sections and opposes centralisation of power.

● It recognises moral dignity and worth of individuals.

● It replaces traditionalism with modern rationalism. That is socio-economic relations of humans in

society which were hitherto based on traditions should be based on reason

LIBERTY.PDF MCQS

Liberty comes from the Latin word “libertatem” which means “condition of a freeman”.
freedom come from the English word “freedom” which means “state of free will”

Liberty is power to act and express oneself according to one’s will while freedom is the power to
decide one’s action.

MARXISM
Introduction

Marx has written so extensively on various issues of Philosophy, Economics, Politics and

Society that it is difficult to discuss all his complex ideas in a few pages.
 Because of a wide range of issues on which he wrote it is equally difficult to put hitn in a straight
jacket of any one discipline.

During his student day,

Marx was attracted to Hegelian Idealism

but he soon shifted his interest to Humanism and ultimately to Scientific Socialism.

He was also influenced by some of the major movements of his times.

During his formative years the idea of evolution, in one forin or the other, was very much in the air.
While one version of evolutio~l was articulated by Hegel (Evolutionz of Absolute Idea or Spirit), the
other version was propounded by Darwin (in 11is Origin of species)

Dialectic materialism
Dialectical Materialism is the scientific methodology developed by Marx and Engels for the
interpretation of history.
Here, Marx has borrowed heavily from his predecessors, particularly, the German
philosopher Hegel.
Dialectics is a very old methodology, employed to discover truth by exposing
contradictions, through a clash of opposite ideas.
Hegel & Marx refined it by developing the trilogy of thesis, anti-thesis and synthesis. It is
popularly known as the Dialectical Triad.
Progress or growth takes place through the dialectical process. At every stage of growth, it
is characterized by contradictions. These contradictions induce further changes, progress,
and development.
The thesis is challenged by its anti-thesis. Both contain elements of truth and falsehood.
Truth is permanent, but falsehood is transitory. In the ensuing conflict of the thesis and the
anti-thesis, the truth remains, but the false elements are destroyed. These false elements
constitute contradictions. The true elements of both the thesis and the anti-thesis are fused
together in a synthesis. This process of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis continues until the
stage of perfection is reached.
In this evolutionary process, a stage will come, when there will be no false elements.
It is the contradictions, which move the dialectical process and a complete elimination of
contradictions marks the end of the dialectical process itself.
Historical Materialism

Prior to Marx, history was conceived to be the result of the impact of ideas that were to
bring changes in a society.
But Marx, while rejecting the emphasis on the ideas as the root cause of any change,
attributed economic conditions alone as responsible for the historical development.
Further, in his materialistic conception of history, Marx found matter, rather than spirit, as
the cause of any social change.
Hence his understanding of human needs and the structure of society was to begin with an
understanding of man as an economic being.
In any case, economic determinism is the beginning point in his perspective.
However, economic determinism is understood as not only the process of production,
distribution and exchange of goods and services but also the way in which human beings
respond to the material challenges of their existence.
In other words, matter is located in the base, whereas the idea is placed in the
superstructure, thereby establishing base-superstructure relationship.
Whenever certain changes do occur in the economy (base), then their reflection is
discernible in the idea (superstructure).
But, in any case there cannot be a situation of vice versa.
The contribution of Marx lies in the fact that class contradictions centre around the
prevailing mode of production with its economic system.
Marx has tried to suggest that all society passes through unilinear evolution, every society
progresses stage by stage and every society has marched ahead. He has suggested about
the history of society, i.e.
Primitive Communism → Slavery → Feudalism→ Capitalism →Socialism →Communism
PSF CSC
Historians recorded history in the manner it is found.+
But Marx had a vision for the future, how history takes man through time.
Each stage sows the seeds of its own destruction. One will go and the other will come. Such
precision and succession will continue till the ultimate i.e. communism is reached.
Age of primitive communism- it is an early form of society where the institution of poverty
had not been born and man had no knowledge even of agriculture and cattle-breeding.
There were no rights of property as everything was held in common.
Age of slavery- in this age agriculture and cattle-breeding started. Certain people were the
owners of land and others were slaves. It was a servile society where production was carried
by slaves, working for the profit of their masters. In this instance, the lords were the
exploiters while the exploited were the serfs.
Age of feudalism- Then the feudal society emerged. Here production was carried out by
serfs, working for the profit of their lords.
Age of capitalist society- the age of capitalism started in Europe after the industrial
revolution. The industries were established and their owners were called capitalists. Millions
of laborers worked in these industries. They got a meager salary and the capitalist became
the owner of the residual profit of the production. In short, production in a capitalist society
is carried out by workers for the profit of capitalist.
Dictatorship of the proletariat class- Marx said that his age was the age of capitalism. In
capitalism there would be a constant struggle between the capitalists and the workers
because the capitalist exploited the workers constantly. In this struggle, the proletarians
would ultimately be victorious. After the revolution, capitalism would perish and
dictatorship of the proletariat would be established.
Communist society- the dictatorship of the proletariat class is a transitional stage. In a
communist society, there would be no exploiters and exploitation. The means of production
will all belong to the workers who will, therefore, receive the full fruits of their labour.
Communist society is a classless and stateless society where there will be no more
contradictions. The contradictions consist of class struggle, but under communism there
would be no class struggle and hence no contradiction. Without a contradiction there can
be no change, and, therefore, communist society is changeless.