Paper 1: Liberalism Essay Plans
Freedom and liberty
To what extent do modern and classical liberals agree about freedom/liberty
- Agree - All liberals believe that equality of opportunity is important in safeguarding freedom, holding that a
society in which a talented individual is denied the opportunity to pursue their chosen path in life, simply
because of their background or other intractable aspects of their character, is not a free one.
- Therefore, both strands of liberalism condemn discrimination which undermines equality of opportunity.
- Disagree – However on this topic there is a broad area of disagreement among liberals as to how to ensure
equality of opportunity and the extent to which society should go to ensure it.
- It is particularly clear that, Classical liberals strongly emphasise the need for negative freedom and the
removal of obvious external obstruction in the way of the individual’s goals rather than the imposition of
extra measures to level the playing field for the disadvantaged advocated by modern liberals.
- Mary Wollstonecraft, a Classical Liberal, argued that, for women to be guaranteed equality of
opportunity, the state should guarantee women equal political and moral rights, free from legal barriers-
rather than suggesting that we change the way society fundamentally operates as advocated by modern
liberals we simply must remove the self-imposed barriers that suffice to limit individual freedoms.
- John Rawls, a modern liberal, argued that, for competition to be truly fair between equally talented rich
and poor individuals, the inherently privileged should naturally break the ‘veil of ignorance’ and make
sacrifices that would suffice to level the playing field for those who weren't as fortunate as to be born
into such favourable circumstances.
- Disagree – Despite this, in assessing how people's freedom should be safeguarded and promoted, among
Liberals, there remains acute tensions with regards to how the state should be structured to ensure
freedom.
- Classical Liberals favour the “Night Watchman State”, a state that is limited in size, with the sole goals of
enforcing the law effectively, as well as ensuring the security of the populace.
- At the same time, modern liberals believe in an “enabling state” which can ensure freedom by
promoting positive rights and substantive equality of opportunity. This is a state with wider reaching
power in society, which does not only reactively enforce freedom using the law (like the Night
Watchman state) but can also actively promote it.
- Agree – Despite this, one thing that seemingly unites all liberals is their belief in the necessity of the state in
protecting the rights of the individual.
- Despite their optimistic view of human nature, liberals concede that humans are inherently egotistical
and overly self-driven. They worry that a so-called “state of nature” (a state without government
intervention) would give rise to conflicts between individuals perusing their own egocentric agendas,
and that without any formal structure which the state would provide, any resolution to these frictions of
interest would be notably absent from our society.
- As stated by John Locke, “freedom can only exist under the law, where there is no law, there is no
freedom”.
- Agree – All liberals stress the importance of individual freedom and thus consider tolerance crucial in a truly
free society.
- This view is largely informed by John Stuart Mill’s thinking on the subject - he argued that it is not
justifiable to interfere with self-regarding actions (i.e., actions which only affect the individual who
performs them), even if they are harmful to the self. According to Mill, an individual’s freedom should
only be curtailed if it also harms the freedom of others.
- Disagree - Despite this, modern and classical liberals can interpret this in different ways
- While Classical Liberals take this and apply it firmly, tolerating all behaviour which is unharmful to
others, Modern Liberals agree in a looser sense, holding sacred the toleration of different religions and
