Related Terms • conservatism

Definition:
The political philosophy of liberalism argues that government should be used as a positive force to promote individual rights and ensure social equality. Liberalism in the modern era can be traced to the era known as the Enlightenment in Europe during which people began to emphasize the importance of individual liberties against traditional authority structures. The reaction against the growth of liberalism was called conservatism.

The more classical form of liberalism focuses solely on the idea that governmental authority derives from the consent of the governed because those social structures were the ones which represented the greatest threat to liberty. Over time, this focus for most liberals has also shifted to include other structures of authority and dominance, like private corporations, on the premise that they can also represent a threat to the liberty of individuals in society.

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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?