Classical Liberalism Essay ⋆ Political Science Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Many Americans associate the term liberalism with, for good or ill, such emotionally charged topics as big government, welfare, socialism, and civil rights. It is axiomatic that the meanings of political labels can change over time. Liberalism is no exception to this rule. This entry briefly reviews the origins of liberalism and what constitutes classical liberalism as it was generally understood at that time, which is different than its meaning in recent American politics.

Roots And British Pioneers

Liberalism has a long and distinguished history, star ting with the philosophers of ancient Greece and Rome. In the development of the understanding of politics throughout Western history since the time of ancient Greece and Rome, political philosophy has considered the place of the individual in a society or political system. In many, if not most, political philosophies, the individual has been sacrificed or has been subordinate to the good of the state. However, the good of the individual has occasionally been considered central; it is this focus on the individual that characterizes the common thread of liberalism in all its forms. This common thread can also be described as the value of liberty (both liberty and liberalism come from the Latin root liber, meaning “free”) and the minimization of government interference in civil society. Associated with liberalism is the concept that humans have an inherent goodness and rationality.

During the European Enlightenment of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the threads of liberalism began to coalesce into a somewhat coherent political philosophy. Enlightenment philosophers emphasized reason and the nature of the individual man and society, which formed the basis for liberal thought. A number of philosophers epitomize this search, beginning with Thomas Hobbes (1588–1679), a British philosopher. In his masterpiece, Leviathan, Hobbes posited that life in a state of nature was “brutal, nasty, and short.” Nevertheless, he recognized that man was an individual prior to society, one of the first philosophical recognitions of man as an individual. Hobbes argued that those individual men, through handing their self-rule over to the sovereignty of the government, formed a social contract for their mutual protection.

Hobbes was followed by John Locke (1632–1704), a British physician and philosopher commonly known as the “father of liberalism.” Locke’s most famous political work was the Two Treatises of Government. Like Hobbes, Locke advocated a social contract theory of political life, where men formed governments to ensure peace, but he placed a greater emphasis on individual liberty. In his “Essay Concerning Human Understanding,” he expanded on the notion that men were individuals and that they had inherent value separate from the state. Locke presented a natural law theory that men had the natural rights to life, liberty, and property.

Following Locke and Hobbes were a number of continental philosophers who characterized the focus on the individual during the Enlightenment. Jean Jacques Rousseau (1712–1788), a Genevoise philosopher, wrote The Social Contract, describing the creation of a society in which men formed governments for the befit of all men, which became a great influence. Baron Montesquieu (1689–1755), a French political philosopher, penned The Laws, advocating the separation of powers in government to protect the people, which heavily influenced the American Founders in the writing of the U.S. Constitution. The Scottish Enlightenment included philosopher Adam Smith (1723–1790), whose book The Wealth of Nations helped launch the modern discipline of economics, through his theory of a free market, where individuals pursued their own self-interest in such as way that would benefit all society.

Liberalism As A Label Spreads

These accomplished philosophers, who lived prior to and during the Enlightenment, were the forerunners of what is known as classical liberalism. Until the early nineteenth century, the political philosophy of liberalism was not so named and was a reaction to the abuses of the clerical system of rule and feudalism. The term liberalism did not come into use until the early 1800s in Spain, when a general opposition to the clerical establishment developed. From Spain, the label of liberalism traveled to the continent and then to England.

From the Enlightenment, some authorities recognize that liberalism, as a political philosophy, went through several stages. Initially, the middle class was in a form of revolt against the established political and economic powers. The middle class had increased its share of the economic wealth but had not had a corresponding increase in its political power. At that time, the middle class began to seek more say in the economic and political affairs of society. This period generally lasted until the early 1800s.The period between approximately 1830 and 1865 is considered the heyday of classical liberalism as a philosophy. Classical liberalism is based on the idea that individuals are independent beings and have free will. This concept of liberty is explained by John Stuart Mill (1806–1873), a British philosopher, in his classic work, On Liberty, which illustrates that the notion of liberty is not just freedom from the government but from other people, too. It explains the idea of human individuality and independence.

Classical liberalism is associated with the idea that human beings must be free and subject to the barest minimum of restrictions. Thus, government could be considered evil if it excessively intruded on individual liberty. For John Locke, government should only be allowed to impose regulations to protect a person’s life, liberty, and property. It is interesting to note that in classical liberalism, property was very important, as opposed to the more recent variants of liberalism, which focus less on property rights. For Adam Smith, who opposed government regulation, government should be limited to three activities: (1) protect society from external violence and invasions, (2) maintaining internal peace and order and a reliable system of justice, and (3) maintain certain public works to assist individuals in society in their pursuit of their individual interests.

Evolution Of The Term

From 1865 until the early twentieth century was the period of democratic liberalism, when a greater number of people (the middle class) began to be involved and claim their rights and power in politics with the concept of the individual and liberty as a prime concern. Since the start of the twentieth century, liberalism developed into what is known as welfare liberalism, wherein the government is assumed to be responsible for the well-being of individual people through such programs as: pensions, minimum wage, limited work hours, and free education. As welfare liberalism considers the state responsible for the moral and material welfare of the people, its conservative critics compared it to socialism, and even in the early twenty-first century, many Americans consider the term liberal an insult or even synonymous with communism. Ironically, however, many contemporary conservatives, at least in the United States where the American founding is revered, are actually liberals in the classical sense.

Conclusion

In sum, classical liberalism is based on the works of John Locke and the thinkers of the Enlightenment. Thus, classical liberalism is very different from welfare liberalism and closer to the contemporary perspective of libertarianism. It is a political philosophy that maximizes individual freedom and minimizes government regulation. It is not a philosophy in which the government is considered to be a protector and benefactor of individual morality and material needs.

Bibliography:

Bramstead, Ernest K., and K. J. Melhuish, eds. Western Liberalism: A History in Documents from Locke to Croce. New York: Longman, 1978.
Cowling, Maurice. Mill and Liberalism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Grant, Ruth. John Locke’s Liberalism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Neill,Thomas. The Rise and Decline of Liberalism. Milwaukee: Bruce, 1953.
Strauss, Leo. Liberalism: Ancient and Modern. New York: Basic Books, 1968.

This example Classical Liberalism Essay is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.