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Definition:
The French phrase laissez-faire literally means "allow to do," and is
used in political philosophy and economics to refer to the idea that governments
should have as little power as possible. Greater governmental power means more
restrictions on what individual people can do. Thus, the theory goes, the less
government there is the more freedom of actoin people can have.
The belief that laissez-faire government is best is predicated upon the idea that negative freedom is more important than positive freedom, a distinction made by Isaiah Berlin.
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Related Resources:
What are Political and Legal Philosophy
The Philosophy of Politics and the Philosophy of Law are often studied separately, but they are presented here jointly because they both come back to the same thing: the study of force. Politics is the study of political force in the general community, while jurisprudence is the study of how laws can and should be used to achieve political and social goals.What is Philosophy?
What is philosophy? Is there any point in studying philosophy, or is it a useless subject? What are the different branches of philosophy - what's the difference between aestheitcs and ethics? What's the difference between metaphysics and epistemology?
