Liberalism or liberal democracy emerged as the political, economic, and social orthodoxy in most European countries from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, and continues to function as a political cultural, social, and intellectual orthodoxy in the mid- and late 20th century. However, liberalism has not remained static in character during this period. Instead, it has evolved according to the circumstance and changing values of contemporary times. Historians of philosophy have separated the evolution of liberalism into two schools. The first or original school has been labeled classical liberalism and is characterized by concerns for the equal rights of individuals (especially legal rights), the right to pursuit of free market and material gain, the judgment of individuals based on merit, the protection of rights of property, and an emphasis on moral and social responsibility. By the mid-twentieth-century, it had evolved into modern liberalism which emphasized the role of the state in regulating the welfare of the community. Modern liberalism de-emphasizes the role of the individual and emphasize the collective nature of classes and groups in the 20th century. In fact many of the themes of the classical school of liberalism would be rejected by modern liberals who realized they no longer fit the new social, political, and economic realities created by the dawning of industrialization. This paper will analyze the themes which formed the basis of each school of liberalism and will trace the evolution of these concepts.
Classical liberalism, as historians of philosophy have labeled this school of thought, grew out of the philosophy of the mid 17th-century and became an extremely influential philosophy in the western world by the mid-19th century. Some of the core values of this philosophy included free trade and open markets, and the absolute sanctity of private property rights (Noble, et al., 1994, 956). This ba...