Download or read book Liberalism Defended written by Douglas B. Rasmussen and published by Edward Elgar Publishing. This book was released on 1997 with total page 108 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is one of four essays, each published separately, and also available together in one hardback edition, which survey classical liberalism and civil society. This paperback offers a defence of liberalism, covering its foundations; liberalism and ethics; and analyses and objections.
Download or read book Against Perfectionism written by Steven Lecce and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 361 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against Perfectionism defends neutralist liberalism as the most appropriate political morality for democratic societies.
Download or read book Why as a Muslim I Defend Liberty written by Mustafa Akyol and published by Cato Institute. This book was released on 2021-09-28 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islam, the second largest religion in the world, has several authoritarian interpretations today that defy human freedom—by executing “apostates” or “blasphemers,” imposing religious practices, or discriminating against women or minorities. In Why, as a Muslim, I Support Liberty, Mustafa Akyol offers a bold critique of this trouble, by frankly acknowledging its roots in the religious tradition. But Akyol also shows that Islam has “seeds of freedom” as well—in the Qur'an, the life of the Prophet Muhammad, and the complex history of the Islamic civilization. It is past time, he argues, to grow those seeds into maturity, and reinterpret Islamic law and politics under the Qur'anic maxim, “No compulsion in religion.” Akyol shows that the major reinterpretation Islam needs now is similar to the transformation that began in Western Christianity back in the 17th century, with the groundbreaking ideas of classical liberal thinkers such as John Locke. The author goes back and forth between classical liberalism and the Islamic tradition, to excavate little-noticed parallels, first highlighted by the “Islamic liberals” of the late Ottoman Empire, unknown to many Muslims and non-Muslims today. In short chapters, Akyol digs into big questions. Why do Muslims need to “reform” the Sharia? But is there something to “revive” in the Sharia as well? Should Muslims really glorify “conquest,” or rather believe in social contract? Is capitalism really alien to Islam, which has a rich heritage of free markets and civil society? Finally, he addresses a suspicion common among Muslims today: What if liberty is a mere cover used by Western powers to advance their imperialist schemes? With personal stories, historical anecdotes, theological insights, and a very accessible prose, this is the little big book on the intersection of Islam and liberty.
Download or read book The Realist Turn written by Douglas B. Rasmussen and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-08-05 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. Den Uyl maintain that a realist turn—namely, one in which the natural order is the basis for individual rights—is needed to bring about a proper understanding and defense of liberty. They argue that the critical character of individual rights results from their being tethered to metaphysical realism. After reprising their explanation and defense of natural rights, Rasmussen and Den Uyl explain metaphysical realism and defend it against neo-pragmatist objections. They show it to be a formidable and preferable alternative to epistemic constructivism and crucial for a suitable understanding of ideal theory.
Download or read book Liberalism written by Edmund Fawcett and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2015-09-22 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A compelling history of liberalism from the nineteenth century to today Liberalism dominates today's politics just as it decisively shaped the American and European past. This engrossing history of liberalism—the first in English for many decades—traces liberalism’s ideals, successes, and failures through the lives and ideas of a rich cast of European and American thinkers and politicians, from the early nineteenth century to today. An enlightening account of a vulnerable but critically important political creed, Liberalism provides the vital historical and intellectual background for hard thinking about liberal democracy’s future.
Download or read book Liberalism Old and New Volume 24 Part 1 written by Ellen Frankel Paul and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2007-02-12 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this collection, thirteen prominent philosophers and political scientists address the nature of liberalism, its origins, and its meaning and proper interpretation. Some essays examine the writings of liberalism's earliest defenders, like John Locke and Adam Smith, or the influence of classical liberalism on the American founders. Some focus on the Progressive movement and the rise of the administrative state, while others defend particular conceptions of liberalism or examine liberal theories of justice, including those of John Rawls and Robert Nozick. Several essays discuss the U.S. Constitution, seeking to determine whether it is best viewed as empowering the federal government to achieve certain ends, or as strictly limiting its power to ensure the broadest freedom for individuals to pursue their own ends. Other essays address the limits of economic freedom or focus on the nature and extent of property rights and the government's power of eminent domain.
Download or read book Rawls s Political Liberalism written by Thom Brooks and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-05-05 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Widely hailed as one of the most significant works in modern political philosophy, John Rawls's Political Liberalism (1993) defended a powerful vision of society that respects reasonable ways of life, both religious and secular. These core values have never been more critical as anxiety grows over political and religious difference and new restrictions are placed on peaceful protest and individual expression. This anthology of original essays suggests new, groundbreaking applications of Rawls's work in multiple disciplines and contexts. Thom Brooks, Martha Nussbaum, Onora O'Neill (University of Cambridge), Paul Weithman (University of Notre Dame), Jeremy Waldron (New York University), and Frank Michelman (Harvard University) explore political liberalism's relevance to the challenges of multiculturalism, the relationship between the state and religion, the struggle for political legitimacy, and the capabilities approach. Extending Rawls's progressive thought to the fields of law, economics, and public reason, this book helps advance the project of a free society that thrives despite disagreements over religious and moral views.
Download or read book The System of Liberty written by George H. Smith and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-22 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberal individualism, or "classical liberalism" as it is often called, refers to a political philosophy in which liberty plays the central role. This book demonstrates a conceptual unity within the manifestations of classical liberalism by tracing the history of several interrelated and reinforcing themes. Concepts such as order, justice, rights, and freedom have imparted unity to this diverse political ideology by integrating context and meaning. However, they have also sparked conflict, as classical liberals split on a number of issues, such as legitimate exceptions to the "presumption of liberty," the meaning of "the public good," natural rights versus utilitarianism, the role of the state in education, and the rights of resistance and revolution. This book explores these conflicts and their implications for contemporary liberal and libertarian thought.
Download or read book Defending Rorty written by William M. Curtis and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015-08-14 with total page 299 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Liberal democracy needs a clear-eyed, robust defense to deal with the increasingly complex challenges it faces in the twenty-first century. Unfortunately much of contemporary liberal theory has rejected this endeavor for fear of appearing culturally hegemonic. Instead, liberal theorists have sought to gut liberalism of its ethical substance in order to render it more tolerant of non-liberal ways of life. This theoretical effort is misguided, however, because successful liberal democracy is an ethically demanding political regime that requires its citizenry to display certain virtues and habits of mind. Against the grain of contemporary theory, philosopher Richard Rorty blends American pragmatism and romanticism to produce a comprehensive vision of liberal modernity that features a virtue-based conception of liberal democracy. In doing so, Rorty defends his pragmatic liberalism against a host of notable interlocutors, including Charles Taylor, Nancy Fraser, Hilary Putnam, Richard J. Bernstein, and Jean Bethke Elshtain.
Download or read book Classical Liberalism written by D. Conway and published by Springer. This book was released on 1995-11-20 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: `The author's concise and erudite exposition makes the book highly relevant to the study of liberalism and ideologies. Recommended for political scientists, economists, philosophers, and for all levels of students and faculty.' - R.J. Vichot, Florida International University This book restates and defends the classical liberal case for minimal government, arguing that such government would best advance human well-being in all societies. The classical liberal ideal is defended against its main contemporary opponents, taken to be modern welfare liberals, communitarians, and conservatives. These variously oppose minimum government in the names of equality, community, and the need for states to retain the patriotic allegiance of their citizens which conservatives maintain minimal government is unable to do.
Download or read book Liberalism and Community written by Steven Kautz and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-05 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Contemporary political theory has experienced a recent revival of an old idea: that of community. In Liberalism and Community, Steven Kautz explores the consequences of this renewed interest for liberal politics. Whereas communitarian critics argue that liberalism is both morally and politically deficient because it does not adequately account for equality and virtue, Kautz defends liberalism by presenting reports of various partisan quarrels among liberals (who love liberty), democrats (who love equality), and republicans (who love virtue). Founded on the classic texts of Locke and Montesquieu, the liberalism that Kautz advocates is cautious and conservative. He defends it against the arguments of important new communitarians—Richard Rorty, Michael Walzer, Benjamin Barber, and Michael Sandel—and contrasts communitarian and liberal views on key questions. He discusses Walzer' s account of moral reasoning in a democratic community, engages Barber on the nature and limits of republican community, and takes on Rorty's communitarian account of moral psychology and the nature of the self. Kautz also explores the concepts of virtue, tolerance, and patriotism—issues of particular interest to communitarians which pose special problems for liberal political theory—in an effort to rebuild a new and more tenable interpretation of liberal rationality.
Download or read book The Transformation of Liberalism in Late Nineteenth Century Mexico written by Charles A. Hale and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2014-07-14 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading intellectual historian of Latin America here examines the changing political ideas of the Mexican intellectual and quasi-governmental elite during the period of ideological consensus from the victory of Benito Juárez of 1867 into the 1890s. Looking at Mexican political thought in a comparative Western context, Charles Hale fully describes how triumphant liberalism was transformed by its encounter with the philosophy of positivism. In so doing, he challenges the prevailing tendency to divide Mexican thought into liberal and positivist stages. The political impact of positivism in Mexico began in 1878, when the "new" or "conservative" liberals enunciated the doctrine of "scientific politics" in the newspaper La Libertad. Hale probes the intellectual origins of scientific politics in the ideas of Henri de Saint-Simon and Auguste Comte, and he discusses the contemporary models of the movement the conservative republics of France and Spain. Drawing on the debates between advocates of scientific politics and defenders of the Constitution of 1857 in its pure form, he argues that the La Libertad group of 1878 and their heirs, the Cientificos of 1893, were constitutionalists in the liberal tradition and not merely apologists for the authoritarian regime of Porfirio Díaz. Hale concludes by outlining the legacy of scientific politics for post-revolutionary Mexico, particularly in the present-day efforts to inject "democracy" into the political system. Originally published in 1990. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Download or read book The Defenders of Liberty written by Neema Parvini and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-05-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Defenders of Liberty presents a history of economic liberalism from the Renaissance to the present. It chronicles the tradition of thought that sees human nature as social yet self-interested, methodological individualism as its key analytical tool, and property rights as foundational to a civilised society. In the development of this way of thinking, it considers the contributions of many key thinkers including Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Richard Cantillon, A.J.R. Turgot, David Hume, Adam Smith, Nassau William Senior, Richard Cobden, Herbert Spencer, Jean-Baptiste Say, Carl Menger, William Stanley Jevons, Gaetano Mosca, Eugen Böhm-Bawerk, Vilfredo Pareto, Phillip Wicksteed, Edwin Cannan, Ludwig von Mises, Lionel Robbins, F.A. Hayek, W.H. Hutt, Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Murray N. Rothbard, James M. Buchanan, and Thomas Sowell. The book contends that liberalism needs to be grounded in realism, and that it has been derailed whenever economists have deviated from an explicitly realist understanding of human nature, individualism and property rights. It argues that the cause of liberalism was compromised by errors in economic reasoning by such major figures as David Ricardo, John Stuart Mill, Alfred Marshall, A.C. Pigou, and John Maynard Keynes. In diagnosing what has gone wrong for liberalism in the twenty-first century, The Defenders of Liberty argues against substituting mathematical abstraction for causal realism; it opposes interventionist central banking; it seeks to recover economic liberalism from social and political liberalism, which are somewhat unrelated schools of thought; it resists a view of human nature rooted in selfishness or atomised individualism; and finally alerts defenders of freedom to the ruthless but effective language games played by their opponents. This book will be of interest to the educated general reader as well as undergraduates and postgraduates in disciplines such as economics, political theory and philosophy.
Download or read book Extending Political Liberalism written by Martha C. Nussbaum and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2015-04-07 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Widely hailed as one of the most significant works in modern political philosophy, John Rawls's Political Liberalism (1993) defended a powerful vision of society that respects reasonable ways of life, both religious and secular. These core values have never been more critical as anxiety grows over political and religious difference and new restrictions are placed on peaceful protest and individual expression. In her introduction to the volume, Martha Nussbaum discusses the main themes of Political Liberalism and puts them into the context of contemporary philosophical debates.
Download or read book The Politics of Human Frailty written by Christopher J. Insole and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The latest book in the Faith in Reason series provides a theological defence of a strand of political liberalism; a strand informed by the theological conviction that the human person is a creature incapable of its own perfection, although nonetheless called to and made for this perfection. Insole puts a question mark against easy caricatures of "liberalism", which tend to describe it as individualistic, hubristic and relativist. By attending to figures such as Edmund Burke, Lord Acton and John Rawls, Insole shows that a passion to protect the individual within liberal institutions arises not from an illusory sense of self-sufficiency, but from an insight into our fallen condition, characterised by frailty, vulnerability, yet also from a hope and intimation of redemption and an eternal divine order. Taking up the emphasis Rawls places on the wars of religion in 16th and 17th century Europe as the historical impetus for an emerging political liberalism, Insole pays careful attention to the work of Richard Hooker. After attending to this theologico-political seed-bed of liberalism, Insole investigates how the notions of 'liberty' employed in England, America and France have some quite distinct theological lineages, and separates the political liberalism he defends from these over-zealous appropriations that emanate, for instance, from American Presidents. On the basis of his theological defence, he also critiques the Radically Orthodox attempt to leap beyond political liberalism to a more enchanted space, showing the Radical Orthodoxy project to be politically naï(-15441)ve, utopian and dangerous, in ways well understood by the tradition of political liberalism defended.
Download or read book A Thousand Small Sanities written by Adam Gopnik and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2019-05-14 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stirring defense of liberalism against the dogmatisms of our time from an award-winning and New York Times bestselling author. Not since the early twentieth century has liberalism, and liberals, been under such relentless attack, from both right and left. The crisis of democracy in our era has produced a crisis of faith in liberal institutions and, even worse, in liberal thought. A Thousand Small Sanities is a manifesto rooted in the lives of people who invented and extended the liberal tradition. Taking us from Montaigne to Mill, and from Middlemarch to the civil rights movement, Adam Gopnik argues that liberalism is not a form of centrism, nor simply another word for free markets, nor merely a term denoting a set of rights. It is something far more ambitious: the search for radical change by humane measures. Gopnik shows us why liberalism is one of the great moral adventures in human history -- and why, in an age of autocracy, our lives may depend on its continuation.
Download or read book Why Liberalism Works written by Deirdre Nansen McCloskey and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-01 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful and passionately written book explaining why a return to Enlightenment ideals is good for the world "Beginning with the simple but fertile idea that people should not push other people around, Deirdre McCloskey presents an elegant defense of 'true liberalism' as opposed to its well-meaning rivals on the left and the right. Erudite, but marvelously accessible and written in a style that is at once colloquial and astringent."--Stanley Fish The greatest challenges facing humankind, according to Deirdre McCloskey, are poverty and tyranny, both of which hold people back. Arguing for a return to true liberal values, this engaging and accessible book develops, defends, and demonstrates how embracing the ideas first espoused by eighteenth-century philosophers like Locke, Smith, Voltaire, and Wollstonecraft is good for everyone. With her trademark wit and deep understanding, McCloskey shows how the adoption of Enlightenment ideals of liberalism has propelled the freedom and prosperity that define the quality of a full life. In her view, liberalism leads to equality, but equality does not necessarily lead to liberalism. Liberalism is an optimistic philosophy that depends on the power of rhetoric rather than coercion, and on ethics, free speech, and facts in order to thrive.
