Ideas of Liberalism
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Liberalism developed from the Enlightenment's critique of eighteenth-century absolutism as both a political and economic theory. Government power was now to be kept to a minimum in order to promote and protect individual freedom. The idea that that government is best which governs least is an expression of liberal orthodoxy. Liberals wanted to impose constitutional limits on government and to remove restrictions on individual enterprise, specifically to remove state regulation of the economy. In the economic realm, this was manifested as a belief in laissez-faire policies. Liberalism was influenced by the romantic movement of the early nineteenth century, which also placed great emphasis on individual freedom and on the drive for the human personality to develop to its full potential. The nationalist movement was another influence (Noble, Strauss, Osheim, Neuschel, Cohen, and Roberts 528). In the economic realm Adam Smith stated the liberal position in writings such as An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Smith recommended freeing the economy from the control of the state. At the time, the mercantilist system prevailed by which the state regulated prices and the conditions of manufacture for goods. Smith argued that the free forces of the marketplace should shape economic decisions, and Smith was the primary advocate of the French view of laissez faire, or letting the economy run on its own. Thomas Malthus suggested that wages and employ
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ividual while wrong actions are those that tend to reduce this total. The ethical principle and the principle of utility become the same--we ought to do what is right and we ought not to do what is wrong.
The individual seeks to express him or herself to the fullest degree possible but is subject to the same laws discovered by reason and explained by liberal theorists. Bentham talks of individual happiness but also see s the role of government as assuring happiness for the greatest number and so for the collective rather than the individual. The emphasis on individualism is related to a perception of human freedom. Bentham implies that human beings are free to choose either pleasure or pain, though clearly they tend to choose pleasure. Malthus implies human freedom as subject to certain overriding laws, specifically that food is necessary to existence and that passion between the sexes will remain the same (Malthus 121). He also implies freedom on a large scale when he finds that the poor are responsible for their own plight and "that the means of redress are in their own hands, and in the hands of no other persons whatever" (Malthus 122-123). Bastiat sees freedom as essential for the economic well-being of the individual
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 2289
Approximate Pages = 9 (250 words per page)
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