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Week 4. Political Philosophy 3:

Liberty, Justice, and Nationalism
Jeonghyeon Kim, Ph.D.

© Oxford University Press 2023

Upcoming Class Schedule

• Sep. 25 : University Foundation Day

• Sep. 27 : Chuseok season
• October 2 : Temporary public holiday

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Learning plan for this week

• Freedom
– Defining freedom
– J. S. Mill’s theory on liberty

• Justice
– Defining Justice
– John Rawls’s theory on justice

• Nationalism v. Multiculturalism

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Definition of freedom

• Freedom and liberty are interchangeable terms.

• ‘Freedom’, like ‘democracy’, is an essentially

contested concept.
• A reasonable starting point is to define freedom as
‘the absence of c ’.

• However, the subject is more complicated than this.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Negative and Positive Freedom

• Isaiah Berlin (1909-97)’s two types of freedom

• N Freedom
– The freedom that is guaranteed when external constraints,
obstacles, coercion, or interference that limit an individual’s
choices and actions are absent.
– The govt’s role is minimal.

• P Freedom
– The freedom that is guaranteed with the presence of the
necessary conditions and opportunities for individuals to
achieve their full potential and pursue their goals.
– The govt’s active intervention or support is required.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Is Freedom Special?

Is Freedom Special?
Various reasons for valuing freedom…

• Freedom is a basic human rights (Hart, 1967).

• Freedoms are necessary to ensure that individuals are treated
with equal concern and respect (Dworkin 1978).
• Individuals should have the maximum possible freedom to pursue
their own interests and make their own choices, as long as they do not
h (J. S. Mill 1859).
– He draw a distinction between freedom of action and freedom of
speech.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Mill and liberty

I. Freedom of a
Mill and liberty
• ‘H principle’: only those actions athat harm others
should be prevented by public opinion or the state.
• O -regarding actions: can be prohibited by law, or
discouraged by public opinion, if they cause harm to others.
• S -regarding actions: should not interfered with, even
if they will harm themselves in the process.
– People may find certain actions offensive, but the
actions are not considered as ‘other’ regarding if the
actions don’t cause physical or finanical harm to others.
• This idea has been influential in discussions of individual liberty
and the limits of government authority.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Mill and liberty (2)

II. Freedom of s
• Freedom of thought and expression is a means to social progress.
• Freedom of speech shouldn’t be prohibited unless it directly cause
physicall or finanial harm to others.

• Waldron (2021): it’s important to ask if there are additional harms

caused by h .
– e.g. A threat to societal cohesion, the dignity of those who are
targeted, their sense of self-worth and status in the eyes of
others.
– He claims that it is possible to distinguish between being
offended v. a loss of dignity. – can we?

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Discussion

Q. Adopting Mill’s theory, when are state restrictions on

liberty justified, among the examples mentioned below?

• Laws legalizing gay marriage

• Abortion
• COVID-19 & lockdown, mandatory vaccinations, mask wearing
• Smoking
• Hate speech

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

The meaning of justice

• Justice is a distributional concept.

• Justice is concerned with the distribution of r
such as wealth, income, and educational opportunities.
• There is a distinction between p justice — the
following of rules — and s justice, which is
concerned with outcomes.

Q. What kind of criteria should a state consider when allocating

resources? - need, desert/ merit, or principle of equality?

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Competing theories of justice
• A -based theory of justice
– Resources should be distributed based on what individuals need to
lead a decent and fulfilling life.

• A -based theory of justice (a meritocratic theory of justice)

– Resources should be distributed to those display some merit and
deserve to be rewarded.
– It recognizes that some individuals start out with a structural
disadvantages.

Q. What would you choose between a theory of justice emphasizing

merit form one emphasizing need?

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Rawls and Justice

• The American theorist John Rawls (1921–2002) is one

of the most influential political thinkers of recent times.

• His book A Theory of Justice (1921) asks us to

imagine a so-called ‘original position.’
o A thought experiment to explore the principles of
justice and fairness in society.
o V
o Self-interested people

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Rawls and Justice (2)

1. Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive

total system of equal basic liberties compatible with a similar
system of liberty for all.

2. Social and economic inequalities are to be arranged so that

they are both:
– (a) to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged… and

– (b) attached to offices and positions open to all under

conditions of fair equality of opportunity.

Let’s rank the principles in the order that Rawls considers

important.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Criticisms of Rawls

• This drew attention to possible conflicts between justice and

freedom.

• Robert Nozick (1938–2002), argued that despite Rawls’s

apparent attachment to liberty, he allows far too much potential
scope for state (e.g. through taxation to
redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor).

Q. Can justice exist without freedom?

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 What is an ideology?

• Political ideology is the lens that help to shape the

domestic and international political landscape.
– Pluralism, elitism, Marxism, socialism, communism,
liberalism, conservatism, etc.

• Ideology is best understood as a set of ideas

designed to provide…
– a description of the existing political order,
– a vision of what the ideal political order ought to look like
– a means to achieve the visions.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Nationalism

• It is a principle in that it holds that political

organization/state ought to be based on
national identity.

• But, the bases of this identity have varied,

such as race, language, religion, culture, and
membership of a state/ citizenship.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Nationalism (2)

• nationalism refers loyalty to the institutions and values

of a particular political community, regardless of their origins.

• nationalism refers to loyalty to a shared inheritance

based on culture, language, or religion, etc.
– Inspired separatism

• nationalism refers to political movements that

emerged in colonized regions after WWI with the goal of
opposing and ending colonial rule.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Critiques of Nationalism

• Is nationalism an ideology?
– a vision of political order?
– The problem with the ideas of ‘nationhood’
• e.g.

• Normative issue?

• Does nationalism tend to result in division and conflict?

– cf. Liberal nationalism

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Multiculturalism

• Emerged as a direct challenge to nationalism.

• Seeks to advocate for states based on many

different religious, cultural, and ethnic identities.

• Multiculturalism has become a particularly pressing issues,

precisely because modern societies have become increasing
multicultural as a result of and increased migration.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Ideological location

Q. What is the correct ideological location for multiculturalism?

• Multiculturalism was initially aligned with , which also

respects group rights, community identity and cohesion.
– It includes rights of self-governance and polyethnic rights

• It was later adopted by .

– common features: protection of minority rights, toleration of
diversity
– BUT! a potential conflict between liberalism v. multiculturalism
when the latter involves the infringing of individual rights.
• e.g. forced marriages, FGM, etc.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

 Strengths and Weakness

• Is it a positive or negative phenomenon?

– Pros and Cons
– The rise of religious fundamentalism

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e

Religious fundamentalism

• Ultimately, religious fundamentalism in its various

forms can be seen as a backlash against the
dominance of liberalism, which Francis
Fukuyama perhaps prematurely heralded as ‘the end
of history’.

Garner, Ferdinand, & Lawson: Introduction to Politics 5e