Liberalism
 -about maximizing the freedom of the individual
 Society is the sum of all the individuals who compose
it
 Role of the state to protect the freedom of the
individual
John Stuart Mill
 Greatest work “On Liberty”
 Similar to Descartes and Bacon
 Mill was looking for more certain truth, which came
through individual liberty
 Modern society didn’t allow this, because of ‘recieved
opinion’
 People are censored, but legally and socially when they
question ‘recieved opinion’
 Stigma associated with having differing views
 People also practice self censorship
 This stunts people’s reason
 The duty of the government is to allow people to come
to certain truth
 Good example was the subjection of women, which
was held as dead dogma, and if one spoke out, they
would be stigmatized
 This subjection would be legitimate if it was debated
and was certain truth
Solution
 There needs to be limits imposed on the power that
can be exercised over the individual
 But the individual cannot harm anyone else
Four Freedoms
 Freedom of conscience, expression
 They go hand and hand, and cannot be limited
because words cannot do harm
 Expression is beneficial even when it is disturbing
 Freedom of life plan – freedom to pursue life goals, but
it is not absolute
 Harm principle
 Example, selling poison should require a physicians
note
 Drunkeness another example- can harm your
dependants
 Freedom of association
 Free, unfettered association with like minded
individuals
Why is this important?
 With the liberties in place, humanity can progress into
liberty
 It gives us more certain truth
 New ideas have been stamped out
 With them, we will have controversy, which leads to
progresss
 This type of education prevents us from making knee
jerk reactions – dead dogma
Bentham’s Utilitarianism
 Greatest good for the greatest number
 Laws based on their utility
Darwinism
 Charles Darwin, ‘The Origin of Species’
 Peace and harmony not the natural way
 Struggle a good thing, produces the best of the species
 Natural Selection
 Minor variations in each species, which may help them
survive
 Some organisms had a competitive advantage
Social Darwinism
 Oversimplification of Darwin
 People used it to justify actions against other
countries, races
 Struggle among nations necessary for progress
 Weak armies and peoples would be eliminated until
only the strong survived
 Some groups of people were naturally superior because
of what they have accomplished
 Technology and scientific progress used as a
justification
 Used to justify imperial actions
 Eugenics- rich anglo-saxons were naturally superior to
other groups
 Herbert Spencer- applied it to social class
 Governements should not intervene because of
survivial of the fittest
 Marx liked him, especially the ideas on struggle
 Used to justify WWI, WWII, Hitler
Hegelian Dialectic
 George Hegel
 There will be conflict and violent interaction between
polar opposites until a perfect balance is reached
 Thesis and anti-thesis
 New idea – synthesis
 History of humanity is working toward an end point –
world spirit
 Best way to understand the dialectic is through Marx
Nihilism
 Comes from the Latin word – nothing
 Is the belief that all values are baseless, and that
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nothing can be known or communicated
Extreme pessimism
Nihilists believe in nothing, have no loyalties
Denies the possibility of truth and knowledge
Future improvement needs destruction of political,
social, religious orders
Rejects ethical and moral values
Life has no intrinsic values or meaning
 Denounce god and religious authority
 It goes against freedom
 Leads to terrorism and assassination
 Some nihilists say achieving individual freedom is the
only law, state, therefore, must be destroyeed