Liberty and Political Liberalism
Liberty and Political Liberalism
William D. Towah
Liberty and Political Liberalism
The Relationship between the Concepts of Liberty and Political Liberalism
In his publication: “The Equality Trust”, Goddard, J. (2013) discussed that liberty as defined by many to mean the ability of an individual to carry out his/her will without any active obstruction or impediment from any persons is narrowed and, therefore, flawed. He proposed that liberty should rather be viewed as the “absence of relationship domination and dependence between persons – regardless of whether any actual interference takes place” (para. 1). According to him once this broader view is keenly considered, the comparability between liberty and equality becomes glaringly visible.
Political liberalism is a revised version of John Rawls’ premise centered on the decency of human-beings and seeks to address the state of confusion imposed between the state and its citizens by the dictate of classical liberalism. It seeks to build harmony between and amongst of varying schools of thoughts; the concept of liberty in itself do not make an individual absolutely free instead liberty should rely on the mechanism of the state in order to thrive. In other words, the concept of liberty to really manifest, there must be a general consensus in how an individual’s freedom is not restricted or denied by government laws and policies and as such the freedom of others is not also taken advantage of. Liberty can be dissected as either positive or negative, and are both realized through democratic processes (Liberalism: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Positive and Negative Liberty
Positive liberty is that innate control of one’s senses in decision making. It is when a person uses his own judgment to arrive at decisions. In this case, there are no external hindrances to one’s thoughts and choices as one is at liberty, at will to pursue a giving course of action. For instance, a young man may desire if
William D. Towah
Liberty and Political Liberalism
The Relationship between the Concepts of Liberty and Political Liberalism
In his publication: “The Equality Trust”, Goddard, J. (2013) discussed that liberty as defined by many to mean the ability of an individual to carry out his/her will without any active obstruction or impediment from any persons is narrowed and, therefore, flawed. He proposed that liberty should rather be viewed as the “absence of relationship domination and dependence between persons – regardless of whether any actual interference takes place” (para. 1). According to him once this broader view is keenly considered, the comparability between liberty and equality becomes glaringly visible.
Political liberalism is a revised version of John Rawls’ premise centered on the decency of human-beings and seeks to address the state of confusion imposed between the state and its citizens by the dictate of classical liberalism. It seeks to build harmony between and amongst of varying schools of thoughts; the concept of liberty in itself do not make an individual absolutely free instead liberty should rely on the mechanism of the state in order to thrive. In other words, the concept of liberty to really manifest, there must be a general consensus in how an individual’s freedom is not restricted or denied by government laws and policies and as such the freedom of others is not also taken advantage of. Liberty can be dissected as either positive or negative, and are both realized through democratic processes (Liberalism: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Positive and Negative Liberty
Positive liberty is that innate control of one’s senses in decision making. It is when a person uses his own judgment to arrive at decisions. In this case, there are no external hindrances to one’s thoughts and choices as one is at liberty, at will to pursue a giving course of action. For instance, a young man may desire if
References: Gale Encyclopedia of US History Encyclopedia of American History Copyright © 2006 by The Gale Group, Inc. A: http//www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_(publisher) Goddard, J.: The Equality Trust, http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/news/equality- incompatible-liberty Liberalism (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy), http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/liberalism