Final Flashcards
(49 cards)
Smith Value
Tangible good
Hayak Value
Subjective
The crisis of modern political theory
Nihilism (no truth or morals)
Early Liberal theorists try to ________ based on _______ while simultaneously saying that _______ can be changed causing internal tensions within their theories.
create neutral systems, nature, nature
18th century definitions
Liberal = a person who was capable of living in freedom.
Conservative = people who were cautious and suspicious of change
19th century definitions
Liberal = all people are capable of living in freedom (if you’re a white property owning male)
- Constitutional government
- Free market
- Democratic system
Conservative = supported the aristocracy and wanted to maintain the former system in opposition to free markets
19th century liberals want..
Constitutional government
Free market
Democratic system
20th century Definitions
Liberal = free markets were creating a new aristocracy through major income difference and people trapped in poverty
Conservative = 19th century liberals. This does not mean neoclassical liberals who did away with the moral code that accompanied classical liberalism
20th century liberals want
Regulation
Redistribution
Locke: State of Nature
the state of nature is people without government. The state of nature is relatively peaceful because people have a natural understanding of what is right and they know they shouldn’t harm others or yourself. Some people are irrational and will deny the law of nature and therefor we need government in order to interpret and enforce the law of nature.
Locke: Law of Nature
People have a right to life, liberty and property and the government should protect them but government can’t be trusted and must be limited. If the government violates your rights it must be overthrown.
Locke: Law of Nature Problems
Locke’s law of nature theory is problematic since he says nature is set but it is also changeable since he says man creates government.
Locke: Property
People in the state of nature everyone owns all the land. In order to own the land for yourself you have to work on the land and create objective value. You are only allowed to accumulate what you need and nothing more except money because money can’t spoil but should be invested.
Locke: Property Problems
The problem with this is that modern people don’t believe in objective value. Locke thought that objective value was determined as a tangible thing that benefited society using a filter of Christian morality.
Locke benefits
rising middle class and capitalists
How would a Reform Liberal criticize Capitalism?
The power of corporations against people and unstable markets plague capitalism. These are driven by inequality since there aren’t enough people to buy the goods that the wealthier are making. In order to solve this we need to regulate the market and redistribute goods to stabilize the market.
Rawls: Original Position
The original position is like the State of Nature where people are put under the Veil of Ignorance. This means they don’t know where they are going to end up in society or anything else about themselves. In order to avoid a worst-case scenario people would create a system that has the best situation for the worst off person also known as the maximin rule.
Rawls: Maxamin Effect
Under the reasoning of the Maxamin rule people would have equal rights and freedoms under a secular system. The second component would be that the inequalities within the system should benefit the worst off person. This results in income inequality with a robust benefits system.
Rawls: Problems
The difficulty is that there is disagreement over who is worst-off. Unlike earlier reform liberals he dismisses Christianized morality and focuses on the poor instead of the middle class. People cant impose their values on others but the problem is who defines what an imposition of values is.
Rawls Benefits
technocrats and managers.
Neoclassical: Criticism of Rawls
Hayack and Friedman agree with Rawls that people’s place in life is determined and there is no truth but instead of trying to maximize the best for the poor they say government doesn’t have any business determining what societal values are and people should be left alone.
Tocqueville
Excessive individualism leads to social isolation which results in tyranny/administrative despotism. This is caused by the governments need to create rules and regulations in order to keep individuals in check. This is because individualism breaks down communities and eliminates societies ability to self-regulate. When people become isolated from each other they also become easier to control. Social isolation is driven by the market economy.
Administrative despotism example
higher ed admin
Polanyi
libertarian economies will self destruct because of the social disruption and environmental degradation but if we regulate markets the market breaks down and causes poverty. Instead we should have imbedded markets where goods are distributed through the needs of the community and social relationship.
