On Liberty

don’t care much for political talk on TV or the radio. But after taking the test and being tossed into the liberal box I now realize that I believe in a lot of the things that liberals do. Their main focuses are promoting equality and individual liberties while supporting government in handling violence and help for the disadvantaged. Basically they like the idea of people getting to express themselves how they want and government helping the disadvantaged and controlling violence. The lack of…

One of the main critiques of Hegel in regards to the liberalism view of freedom is that the view of liberalism is only a partial view of freedom. By referring to liberalism as a partial freedom, Hegel is referring to its subjectivity. To Hegel, liberal freedom is a subjective freedom. In other words, it is a negative freedom, it is a system of rights. This is because according to Hegel, freedom is the “the worthiest and the holiest thing in humanity” where the core of freedom lies in free will…

The foundation of a free society, as stated in the Declaration of Independence, is the understanding that all humans are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” This idea is the only true motivation for a society in which the government operates for the protection of its citizens’ freedoms; by protecting and valuing freedom, one admits that man has innate rights and freedoms to protect. This understanding also admits to the existence of a system of justice outside human law,…

Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “Men have looked at themselves and at things so long that they come to esteem the religious, learned and civil institution as guards of property, and they deprecate assaults on these, because they feel them to be assaults on property.” The concept of people judging their own esteem over ownership of property and possessions is very true, and only leads to greed, self-judgment, and the unhappiness of the owner. The main problem that ownership leads to the want for more…

The principles of classical liberalism are the rule of law, individual rights and freedoms, private property, economic freedom, self-interest and competition. The source did not directly indicate which principles it supports or rejects. However, it displays certain main ideas that refute and supports the principles of classical liberalism. In the source, the wealthy was portrayed to be selfish and is exploiting the lower class when the top man with most money tells everyone to step down one rung…

It’s Our Right, Not Yours The government controls what is supposed to be individual rights without American citizens being fully aware. As a liberalist, Balko strongly believes individual freedoms should be the center focus of the government. He disagrees that the government is doing a good job of sustaining and encouraging a healthier America. His concerns about these issues point toward the idea of fairness because little things like what we eat affect us all. Balko’s argument is that the…

Freedom as a concept implies absolute power over one’s self and property. Through the works of philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and Jean Jacques-Rousseau, we have seen different ways of interpreting the role of property and freedom not only in relation to one’s self, but also within a community, and a political society. Hobbes acknowledges the power dynamics in a society that alter the way in which we live and consequently rebel. He understands the mutual relationship of property and freedom as a…

Barack Obama’s Farewell Speech can be examined through the different theoretical lenses of liberalism and Ubuntu. Liberalism is often called “idealism” and describes how the world ought to be while pushing it in that direction(Zook 2017) Ubuntu theory is that “a person is who s/he is only because of the existence of others and because of his/her coexistence with them”(van der Walt, 108). Both theories have rather different origins, but liberalism and Ubuntu can be brought together to look at the…

In the Second Discourse on Inequality, Jean Jacque Rousseau outlined the origin and development of private property. The formation of the hut is the first step towards the ultimate creation of society as families and communities start to form. Unlike savage man who’s primary motivation was self-preservation, civilized man embraced amour propre as they begin to compare their strengths and abilities of others. Although Rousseau argues that the invention of private property is not natural, it is…

First off, the first source is a quote expressing the author's opinion of the responsibility of the socio-economically elite to serve society and the common good. This source favours modern liberalism,as it is in favour of helping the less fortunate and caring for the common good of society as a whole . This closely coincides with the views of president Hoover, who frequently expressed his opinion on the importance of the well being of a society over self interest and the personal benefit of an…