Liberalism And Ethical Liberalism (Paperback) | Released: 20 Sep 2018

This is a book about Western liberal political philosophy written for interested lay persons.There are various forms of liberal political philosophy: this book concentrates on the form of liberalism known as ethical liberalism. The book claims that ethical liberalism, as a political philosophy, should be considered as a solution to many of the political, social and economic problems in the West: in particular, to the difficulties in government caused by the failures of both communism and capitalism in its present dominant form of neo-liberalism. To this end, the book aims: to describe what ethical liberalism is, as a political theory; to explain what it means (e.g. the implications); and to justify a belief in it (i.e. as a political philosophy). An important (related) second aim of the book is to show that anyone can (and should) practise philosophy in our everyday lives; and indeed almost everyone does, even if we do not always recognise it. Ethical liberalism is, at one level, a political philosophy about government; but philosophy, in the sense of rational systematic purposeful thinking, is not only useful at the level of government. It can be practised at all levels of our everyday lives: on the one hand it is about understanding the world and ourselves more clearly, thereby enabling us to live better and fuller lives; and on the other hand, it is about solving our everyday problems. It will, hopefully, become clear that these aims can be realised, but only if ethical liberalism is considered as part of a whole liberal philosophy of rational systematic purposeful analysis, and not, for example, only as an independent political theory. In Europe, the idea of individual freedom (social, political, economic etc.) emerged over time as the defining characteristic of liberalism, for example as the freedom of individuals as economic entrepreneurs. It became recognised, however, that this freedom had to be restricted by concern for others, to avoid conflict in society and to ensure security for individuals; i.e. liberal freedom entails morality. Thus liberalism and freedom are not simple concepts. Similarly it was recognised: that the primary purpose of life is the wellbeing of each individual; and that the primary purpose of government should, therefore, be to facilitate this wellbeing of all individuals. Thus, the wellbeing of all is a political as well as an ethical ideal. In the nineteenth century in the UK the practice of capitalism greatly improved the total wealth of the Nation. However, this wealth became very badly distributed and there was widespread poverty and inequality, causing great concern among liberals. The idea emerged that the Government should become responsible for the general welfare of all its citizens. In this way ethical liberalism embraced welfare liberalism, i.e. a concern to reduce poverty and inequality. In the twentieth century, the emergence of multiculturalism and fundamentalism led to the idea that the social stability of nations, and therefore the security of the individual, requires a core set of values, beliefs and norms being accepted by everyone. This notion then became the defining characteristic of ethical liberalism. Thus ethical liberalism is not a simple single speculative rigid idea. Instead, it is a whole substantial developing ethical/political philosophy that, in response to changing circumstances, has evolved over the centuries as a result of the living experience and rational thinking of many people. This process is described in this book.The outline plan of the book is: the Preface which summarises the development of liberalism and ethical liberalism; Part (i) which introduces the concepts used and gives the detailed developing history of the two philosophies; Part (ii) which describes the development of modern liberalism and ethical liberalism; and the Conclusion which emphasises the necessary replacement of the existing neo-liberalism by ethical liberalism.