Why Do Liberals Place Such Importance On The Concept Of Liberty?

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Why Do Liberals Place Such Importance On The Concept Of Liberty?

Liberalism is a political viewpoint of which the key concept is that of liberty, as indicted by its title.  Liberty is the birthright of an individual to have freedom of choice without coercion from others.  It gives individuals the entitlement to do as they wish which, in turn, has the implication of a plural society in which tolerance is a vital component in order for social harmony to remain.  

Within liberalism, however, there are two further perspectives, that which we call ‘classical’ and another called ‘social’ (Heywood, A. 1998. p.30).  Classical liberalism advocates that people should be completely free from intervention, particularly from the state, so that everyone is treated equally.  Social liberalists state that, although people should be free to dictate their own lives, some state intervention is required in order to maintain that everyone is given an equal chance to succeed.  They support initiatives such as free healthcare and education for all as well as welfare for the underprivileged.

The ideas of liberty promoted by classical liberalists and social liberalists are therefore somewhat different.  In his book, ‘Two Concepts of Liberty’, Berlin highlighted this and called the concept of liberty favoured by classical liberalists ‘negative’ liberty and that preferred by the social liberalists ‘positive’ liberty (Heywood, A. 1998. p.30).  This was because social liberalists appeared to believe in a kind of liberty which seemed to have a far more ‘positive’ effect, as some rules were still present.

Classical liberalism was the first of the two and began with Locke in seventeenth century England after the English Civil Wars, during which there was a battle between the parliament and the monarchy.  Both were fighting for power as before this, the monarchy had supreme rights and in 1688 the Glorious Revolution took place, which resulted in James II stepping down as King after trying to force Catholicism on the nation.  This is said to have been the groundings for Locke’s work.

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In ‘Two Treatise of Government’ Locke claimed that the ‘natural’ rights of all individuals were ‘life, liberty and property’ and could be best maintained in a community with minimal state intervention (Heywood, A. 1998. p.48).  He argued that humans once lived in a ‘state of nature’ without anything guiding them but reason (Adams, I. 2001. p.12).  He thought that the monarchy was a repressive institution and people would be best in control of their lives in a democratic society.  This could be done by frequent elections taking place so that, if the present government was not performing well, a ...

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