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Liberalism

Liberalism is the most complex and intricate of ideologies. It has permeated so deeply into the cultural life of the West that it is difficult to disentangle the partisan from the more objective commentary. Much academic study (in fact the notion of the liberal academic mind) is founded on the assumptions of tolerance or diversity. A great deal of contemporary political philosophy in the Anglosphere, specifically in the writings of figures such as John Rawls, Michael Walzer and Friedrich Hayek, deals largely with liberal themes.

The oldest apolitical use of the word 'liberal' denotes a type of education. From the Middle Ages it implied two things: first, a broad or wide-ranging education; second, the education of a gentleman and freeman (liber). We have not lost the first sense of the term, although it seems to come into periodic disfavour in educational and political circles. The notion of a 'liberal education' is now often strongly linked with the disciplines of the humanities. The liberal education is said to cultivate a certain critical disposition or habit of mind. Yet the term can be complimentary or pejorative. The complimentary sense implies broadmindedness or generosity (the latter is more easily caught in the word liberality), seen as a virtue. From the late sixteenth century there was another sense of the term which was opprobrious, namely, where liberal implied licence. This is close to the word libertine, which from the sixteenth century implied not only sexual licence and lack of regard for moral laws, but also addiction to antinomian opinions in religion. In Shakespeare's Othello, when Desdemona refers to Iago as 'a most profane and liberal counsellor', she was not, we can assume, complimenting him. This opprobrious, more abusive sense of liberal is still in use today.

A third sense identifies the concept 'liberal' with certain kinds of moral values. In other words, there are a series of values (tolerance, progress, liberty, individualism) which long pre-date the word 'liberal' by centuries but are none the less seen to be characteristic of the 'liberal mind' from the nineteenth century. It is this sense of the term 'liberal' which is used to describe thinkers such as John Locke or Montesquieu who pre-date the existence of the ideology and the word 'liberalism' in European thought. Additionally, the term 'liberal', because of its connotations of breadth of mind, tolerance, openness and generosity of spirit, was often equated with a philosophical demeanour. The broadest and most liberal minds were therefore philosophical in character. In this sense, philosophy was often considered the queen of the liberal arts.

The final sense of the term 'liberal' settles on its political usage. It must be realized that it is a comparatively new political word in the European vocabulary. The first explicit use of the term to denote a political allegiance or faction was in Spain between 1810 and 1820 (Freeden and Fernández-Sebastián 2019, 11-5). Liberales was used initially to describe a group who opposed the more traditional royalist factions (sometimes referred to as serviles - namely, the nobles, clergy and deputies of the estates) (see Collins 1957, 3). The liberales, under the influence of events in France, were in favour of the establishment of a secular constitution and freedom of the press. The term was partly abusive, coined by enemies in the royalist faction, implying dangerous reformism and licence. In fact, events soon overtook the Spanish liberales with the return of royalist absolutism. This pejorative sense of the term became common currency in Europe after 1820. The Tory Prime Minister of Britain, Castlereagh, scathingly referred to some of the then Whig Party as 'English liberales' or 'English libéraux', implying radicalism and republicanism - the sentiments of revolutionaries. Presumably because of the older, complimentary uses of the term 'liberal', this opprobrium was not that long-lasting. By the late 1850s, it was used in England to denote a member of Gladstone's party, although it retained a confusing relation with the idea of Whiggism until the end of the century.

It is worth noting here that not all European societies followed this direct political course and the term 'liberal' did not commonly necessarily denote membership of a particular party. Figures such as François Guizot, Adolphe Thiers, Benjamin Constant and Giuseppe Mazzini believed in a broad, over-arching political attitude, which typified generalized optimistic beliefs about human nature, constitutionalism, the rule of law, free institutions and social progress. All such beliefs could contribute towards the improvement of the human species, but they did not have to be associated with a political party. In point it is worth noting that, for example, neither Constant nor J. S. Mill rarely even used the word liberal in their writings. The affirmation of certain liberal values outside party allegiance is still highly significant. Many claimed, quite reasonably, that they could not become members of a Liberal Party because they were liberal in terms of values. The history of the British Liberal Party, for example, is strewn with cases of those who left the party, and sometimes joined other parties, because they felt liberalism might be better found in the Conservative or Socialist factions. It can be confusing, but it is important to bear in mind that a non-Liberal is not necessarily illiberal, and a Liberal party is not necessarily liberal.

A discussion of liberal political beliefs, in the words of one commentator, 'provides an ideological map of many of the major developments which have occurred in Britain and elsewhere since the seventeenth century' (Eccleshall 1986, 4). There is an inevitable overlap with other ideologies. Most staple liberal texts or thinkers have remained contested. There are formal core ideas and values which are often interpreted differently in distinct political and historical contexts. The past two centuries are thus cluttered with examples of liberal experimentation. Such diversity implies that there is a continual process of reflection and adaptation within liberalism to the present day. It is this continuing reflection which makes it one of the most pervasive and stimulating ideologies in the contemporary world.

The Origins of Liberal Thought

There are several distinct debates concerning the origins of liberalism. Some scholars, for example, identify liberalism in the context of the history of nation states. German, Italian, Spanish, French and British liberalisms developed in unique political and socio-cultural environments. The push for national unification in Italy or Germany in the nineteenth century, the effects of the 1789 revolution in France and the comparative isolation of Britain tempered the character of liberalism in these countries. There is thus no overarching European agreement on the nature of liberalism, rather different national traditions. While there is some truth to this, it can be over-emphasized. As the authors of a recent synoptic text, which deals sympathetically with such liberal diversity across Europe, concede that because the concept liberal comprises 'sufficiently intertwined semantic elements for those to be considered components of the "same" concept' (Freeden and Fernández-Sebastián 2019, 3). Thus liberalism, despite different national interpretations, can still be considered a consistent current of European thought.

Another approach focuses on the character of liberal ideological traditions. The more standard path here is to argue for a distinction between Continental and Anglo-American or British liberalisms (see Hayek 1978, 119; also Gray 1986a, x). The latter branch of liberalism is often seen to be of greater antiquity and more empirical in character. Continental liberalism is associated with the more fervid use of rationalism in human affairs. Any coherence here therefore lies in the two distinct traditions. Each is located within distinct cultural histories. This distinction can, in some cases, become narrowed down to British liberalism (for example in Hayek) being the 'true' liberalism and Continental forms being revisionary or misleading doctrines. Such views are not helpful in accounting for the origins of the liberal movement, which are very much more complex and richly textured. At most the narrower perspective reflects the over-excited prejudices of one faction of liberalism.

A third approach to the origin of liberalism locates it in the development of a particular type of market economy. In the words of one writer: 'So long as capitalism survives, so will liberalism in its various alternative forms' (Arblaster 1984, 7). The rise of industrial capitalism can be seen as coterminous with liberalism (although this argument neglects the fact that it is equally coterminous with many ideologies). Liberalism is thus seen as the ideology of capitalism. This is a view which expresses primarily, though not exclusively, the Marxist or more general socialist reading of liberalism, and it can be found in some commentators on liberalism (see Laski 1936; Macpherson 1962; Arblaster 1984). In this view, private property and negative freedom tend to...