It is difficult for a citizen of any modern democratic society to imagine that just 100 years ago his ancestors did not have a good half of the rights and opportunities that everyone takes for granted today. 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 movement it is and what are its main ideas.
Liberalism - what is it?
This word is a philosophical movement that served as the basis for the formation of an ideology that considers the highest value of human society to be the presence of a number of rights and freedoms among its members.
The adherents of these ideas believe that the independence of the individual should extend to all spheres of life. For this reason, cultural, social, economic and political liberalism is distinguished.
The main values of the ideology in question are not focused on the good of society as a whole,but on each specific representative of it. Thus, liberals believe that the good of every citizen automatically leads to the prosperity of the whole country, and not vice versa.
Etymology of the term and brief historical background
The word "liberalism", oddly enough, is akin to the names of two well-known brands producing hygiene products - Libero and Libresse. All these terms are derived from the Latin words liber - "free" and libertatem - "freedom".
Subsequently from them the word "freedom" appeared in many languages. In Italian it is libertà, in English it is liberty, in French it is liberté, in Spanish it is libertad.
The origins of the ideology under consideration should be sought in Ancient Rome. So, throughout the history of this empire between the patricians (analogous to the nobility) and the plebeians (citizens of low birth, were considered the second grade), there were constant disputes about equality in rights and obligations before the law. At the same time, one of the emperor-philosophers (Marcus Aurelius) in his writings on the political structure of society presented an ideal state as one in which all citizens are equal regardless of origin.
Over the following centuries, periodically the most progressive politicians and philosophers came to the idea of the need to reorient society towards the values of liberalism. Most often this happened at times when the citizens of the states were disappointed in the absolute monarchy (all power and rights belong to the nobility) or the management of society by the church.
The most famous thinkers who promote the values and ideals of liberalism are Niccolò 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 unanimous in their understanding of what exactly the ideology they propagate 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 with the ruling elite, which means that only it could fully enjoy all the rights and freedoms of the liberalist ideology. However, this was contrary to the principle of equal opportunities for all citizens.
By the way, there were disputes around almost every value of liberalism. So, the functions of power raised a lot of questions. 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 only those in power, because it canceled any state assistance to socially unprotected members of society. In addition, it created fertile ground for monopolization in business, which was contrary to the principle of a free market economy. By the way, in the United States (the first country in the world that decided to build its society on the basis of liberal values), non-interference of the state in the development of economic processes led to the Greatdepression. After it, it was decided to revise this principle and allow the authorities to exercise a regulatory function in the economic sphere. Paradoxically, just over 70 years later, the abuse of this right contributed to the 2008 crisis
Why did the word "liberal" have a negative connotation in the Russian Empire
As is clear from the etymology of the term "liberalism", this ideology advocates 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 in almost all centuries protested against the unlimited rights of rulers 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 benefit of his people, and not use it to satisfy his own ambitions and whims.
Naturally, such an attitude towards 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.
It's paradoxical, but after 100 years, the British Empire revised its views on this ideology, and the term acquired a positive meaning, as well as all over the world.
But in Russia, despite the revolution of 1917 and a radical change in soci althe way of the country, the name of the philosophical movement and ideology still have a negative connotation.
Core values of liberalism
Having de alt with the meaning and origin of the term in question, it is worth finding out on what principles it is based:
- Freedom.
- Individualism.
- Human rights.
- Pluralism
- Nomocracy.
- Egalitarianism.
- Rationalism.
- Progressivism.
Freedom
Having learned about the fundamental values of liberalism, it is worth considering each of them in more detail.
First of all, it is the freedom of the individual. This means that every member of society has the right to freely choose a profession, religion, lifestyle and clothing style, sexual orientation, marital status, number of children, etc.
Absolutely all people have the right to independence, without dividing them by race and 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 the behavior that one considers permissible can cause irreparable harm to another. For this reason, the ideology in question implies the freedom of the individual within the framework of the law.
Individualism
Among other values of liberalism is individualism. Unlike socialism, society here is not focused on trying to unite all citizens into collectives (trying to make everyone as identical as possible). His goal- the desire to maximize the development of the creative individuality of everyone.
Rights
Also, in a liberal society, a citizen has a fairly wide range of rights. One of the main ones is the opportunity 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 necessarily has it.
Core values of liberalism: nomocracy and egalitarianism
Despite the seeming connivance towards 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. Moreover, absolutely everyone is equal before him: 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 obligations, but also opportunities.
Thus, no matter what family a child was born in, if he has talent and strives to develop it, he can study and work in the best institutions of the state.
If the offspring of a well-born or we althy family is mediocre, he cannot get a diploma from a good university and take an important position under the protection of his parents, but he will have only what he deserves.
It is worth noting that the beginnings of egalitarianism were still in the Roman Empire. Then this phenomenon wasthe name of the client. The bottom line was that rootless, but talented people (they were called "clients") could earn the patronage of noble families and even join them on an equal footing. By concluding a bilateral support contract with patrons, such citizens got the opportunity to make a political or any other career. Thus, talented citizens were given the opportunity to realize their abilities for the benefit of the state.
The Roman nobility (patricians) throughout history fought against 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 was subsequently observed more than once in history. If a society completely or at least partially abandoned elitism, it flourished. And when egalitarianism was abandoned, stagnation began, and then decline.
Pluralism
When considering the political values of liberalism, it is worth paying attention to pluralism. This is the name of 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 multi-party system; in religion - the possibility of peaceful coexistence of different denominations (super-ecumenism).
Rationalism and Progressivism
In addition to all of the above, adherents of liberalism believe inthe 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 properly used for the public good, the planet will flourish for many more millennia.
Having considered 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.
