Liberalism Explored & Defended

My thesis paper entitled Rousseau and Mill: Differing Concepts of Freedom is now posted on the “essay” section of my site. This paper offers an analysis of the evolution of the concept of freedom and attempts to justify liberalism within the sphere of modern society. Seeing as this site is titled “The Liberal Conviction,” I thought posting this paper would be appropriate: (selected portion)

From the birth of political philosophy, over 2500 years ago, to the present day, the concept of group cohesion has been at a contradistinction with the concept of individual liberty.[i] Group cohesion, defined by allegiance to the state, is rendered legitimate by the consent of the citizenship and enforced by the coercion of the government. Contrastingly, individual liberty is based not on the preservation of the state, but on the freedom to act without constraint in pursuit of individual desires. Too much of the former, and the society collapses under the burden of despotism; too much of the latter, and the society dissolves through a population’s usurped pursuit of individual desires.

From these two philosophical values, group cohesion verses individual liberty, two fundamentally different concepts of freedom have emerged: 1) neo-Romanism, derived from ancient Roman tradition, which conceptually defined freedom merely as the absence of domination by a governmental power not granted legitimacy from the citizenship, and 2) liberalism, defined as freedom from governmental interference on individual action.[ii] Both ideologies, and their interpretations, have manifested themselves within fundamentally different governmental structures—both perceived as free. Governmental structures based on subservience to the will of the community, as is the case with neo-Romanism, or governmental structures based on the preservation of the individual over the community, as with liberalism. Governments whose only responsibility is to attend to the needs of the majority (neo-Romanism), or governments who are additionally obligated to preserve individual freedom within the broad framework of majority consent (liberalism). Each of these concepts of liberty, though based on similar principles of republicanism and democracy, can translate into intrinsically unique political institutions.

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[i] Bertrand Russell, “Introductory,” The History of Western Philosophy (New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc, 1945), xiii‑xxiii.

[ii] Benjamin Constant, “The liberty of the ancients compared with that of the moderns” The Political Writings of Benjamin Constant (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), 307-28.

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Also:

I’ve been away for the past month taking a course in Political Philosophy, a very rewarding experience. Hopefully I can use this new knowledge base as a "hermeneutic lens" towards my critique of current events. The majority of my posts will of course still be the analysis of contemporary politics; however, I hope to intertwine more historical and philosophical contexts, as well as pose and analyze some strictly philosophical questions. I have a number of topics in mind. I will start posting regularly again after Labor Day.