It is difficult for a citizen of any modern democratic society to imagine that only 100 years ago his ancestors did not have a good half of those rights and opportunities that are now taken for granted by all. Moreover, not everyone knows that many of the civil liberties that we are so proud of today are the most important values of liberalism. Let's find out what kind of philosophical current is and what are its main ideas.
What is liberalism?
This word is called a philosophical movement, which served as the basis for the formation of ideology, which considers the highest value of human society to have its members a number of rights and freedoms.
Adherents of these ideas believe that individual independence should extend to all spheres of life. For this reason, distinguish cultural, social, economic and political liberalism.
The main values of the ideology under consideration are focused not on the good of society as a whole, but on each specific representative of it. Thus, liberals believe that the benefit of every citizen automatically leads to the prosperity of the whole country, and not vice versa.
Etymology of the term and a brief historical background
Oddly enough, the word “liberalism” is related to the names of two well-known brands of manufacturers of hygiene products - Libero and Libresse. All these terms are derived from the Latin words liber - "free" and libertatem - "freedom".
Subsequently, the word "freedom" arose from them in many languages. In Italian it is libertà, in English - liberty, in French - liberté, in Spanish - libertad.
The origins of this ideology should be sought in ancient Rome. So, throughout the history of this empire between the patricians (an analogue of the nobility) and plebeians (citizens of low origin, were considered the second grade), there have been constant debates about equality in rights and obligations to the law. At the same time, one of the emperor-philosophers (Marcus Aurelius) in his writings on the political structure of society presented the ideal state as one in which all citizens are equal regardless of origin.
Over the next centuries, periodically the most progressive politicians and philosophers came to the idea of the need to reorient society to the values of liberalism. Most often this happened at a time when citizens of the state became disillusioned with the absolute monarchy (all power and rights of the nobility) or the management of society by the church.
The most famous thinkers promoting the values and ideals of liberalism are Niccolo Machiavelli, John Locke, Charles Louis de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, David Hume, Immanuel Kant and Adam Smith.
It is worth noting that all of the above figures were not always united in understanding what kind of ideology they advocate should be.
For example, one of the stumbling blocks was the issue of private property. The fact is that its presence was considered one of the main values of society. However, in the XVIII-XIX centuries. most of the property in any state was concentrated among the ruling elite, which means that only it could fully use all the rights and freedoms of liberalistic ideology. However, this was contrary to the principle of equal opportunities for all citizens.
By the way, almost every value of liberalism has been debated. So, a lot of questions caused the functions of power. Some thinkers believed that she should only monitor compliance with the law, without interfering in any processes.
However, such a position played into the hands of those in power only, for it annulled any state assistance to socially vulnerable members of society. In addition, it created fertile ground for monopolization in business, which contradicted the principle of a free market economy. By the way, in the USA (the first country in the world that decided to build its society on the basis of liberal values), the state’s non-interference in the development of economic processes led to the Great Depression. After it, it was decided to revise this principle and allow the authorities to exercise a regulatory function in the economic sphere. Paradoxically, after a little over 70 years, the abuse of this right contributed to the 2008 crisis.
Why in the Russian Empire the word “liberal” had a negative connotation
As is clear from the etymology of the term “liberalism”, this ideology stands for the provision of freedom to the individual. Why, then, in the Russian language, this term has a negative connotation?
The fact is that liberal-minded thinkers have protested against the unlimited rights of rulers for almost all centuries and demanded that all citizens be equal before the law, regardless of their status and well-being.
They also criticized the idea of the divine origin of power, believing that the head of state should serve for the good of his people, and not use it to satisfy his own ambitions and whims.
Naturally, such an attitude to the ruling elite in many monarchical countries simply could not be perceived well. Because of this, in the XVIII century. in the Russian Empire and Great Britain, those in power negatively perceived liberal ideas, and the term itself was positioned as dangerous freethinking.
Paradoxically, after 100 years, the British Empire revised its views on this ideology, and the term acquired a positive meaning, as in the whole world.
But in Russia, despite the 1917 revolution and a radical change in the country's social structure, the name of the philosophical trend and ideology still has a negative connotation.
The core values of liberalism
Having figured out the meaning and origin of the term in question, it is worth knowing which principles it is based on:
- Liberty.
- Individualism.
- Human rights.
- Pluralism
- Nomocracy.
- Egalitarianism.
- Rationalism.
- Progressionism.
Liberty
Having learned about the fundamental values of liberalism, it is worth considering each of them in more detail.
First of all, this is personal freedom . This means that each representative of society has the right to arbitrarily choose a profession, religion, lifestyle and style of clothing, sexual orientation, marital status, number of children, etc.
Absolutely all people have the right to independence, without dividing them by race or class. In other words, the freedom of each individual determines the freedom of the whole society, and not vice versa.
At the same time, theorists and practitioners of liberalism were well aware that the line between independence and permissiveness is extremely thin. And often, behavior that one considers permissible, can cause irreparable harm to another. For this reason, the ideology under consideration implies individual freedom within the framework of the law.
Individualism
Among the other values of liberalism, individualism is listed. Unlike socialism, here society is not focused on trying to unite all citizens into collectives (trying to make everyone as identical as possible). His goal is the desire to maximize the development of each individual’s creative personality.
Rights
Also in a liberal society, a citizen has a fairly wide range of rights. One of the most important is the ability to own private property and business.
At the same time, it is worth remembering that if a person has a right to something, this does not mean that he must have it.
The core values of liberalism: nomocracy and egalitarianism
Despite the seemingly conniving attitude to the behavior of its citizens, the liberal ideology is quite balanced. In addition to many rights and freedoms, a person in a society (built on its basis) is responsible before the law. And before him absolutely everything is equal: from the king / president / ruler to the poorest rootless citizen.
Among other important principles and values of liberalism is the lack of division of society into classes (egalitarianism). According to this idea, absolutely all citizens have not only equal rights and duties, but also opportunities.
Thus, regardless of the family in which the child was born, if he has the talent and seeks to develop it, he can study and work in the best institutions of the state.
If the offspring of a noble or wealthy family is mediocrity, he cannot get a diploma from a good university and take an important position under the patronage of his parents, but he will only have what he deserves.
It is worth noting that the beginnings of egalitarianism were still in the Roman Empire. Then this phenomenon was called “clientele”. The bottom line was that rootless, but talented people (they were called "clients") could earn the protection of noble families and even join them on an equal footing. By concluding a bilateral support contract with patrons, such citizens were given the opportunity to pursue a political or any other career. Thus, talented citizens were given the opportunity to realize their abilities for the good of the state.
The Roman nobility (patrician) throughout history has fought with the clientele, although it was she who contributed to the prosperity of the empire. When the rights of clients were limited, within a few decades the strongest state in the world fell.
Interestingly, a similar trend has subsequently been observed more than once in history. If a society completely or at least partially renounced elitism, it prospered. And when he refused egalitarianism, stagnation began, and then decline.
Pluralism
Considering the political values of liberalism, it is worth paying attention to pluralism. Such a title bears the position according to which there can be several opinions on any issue at the same time, and none of them has superiority.
In politics, this phenomenon contributes to the emergence of a multiparty system; in religion - the possibility of the peaceful coexistence of different denominations (superecumenism).
Rationalism and progressism
In addition to all of the above, liberalists believe in the triumph of progress and the opportunity to change the world for the better, using a rational approach.
In their opinion, the possibilities of science and the human mind are very great, and if all this is correctly used for the public good, the planet will flourish for many millennia.
Having examined the basic principles and values of liberalism, we can conclude that this ideology in theory is one of the most progressive in the world. However, despite the beauty of ideas, the implementation of some of them in practice does not always lead to the desired result. For this reason, in the modern world, the most progressive ideology for society is liberal democracy, although it is still far from perfect.