Introduction to Philosophy

Lecture XXX
The Foundations of Modern Liberal
Politics — Part I
Dr. Daniel Kaufman
College of Continuing Education & The Extended University
Missouri State University
Lecture XXX The Foundations of Modern Liberal Politics — Part I

Modern Liberal Political Philosophy:

• The Modern (i.e. Enlightenment) sense of 'liberalism': A political philosophy
centered on the prerogatives and rights of the individual.
Three concepts, which are central to liberalism:
• Individualism: Modern liberal political philosophy rejects the idea that
there is a common human good. The idea of the good — of fulfillment —
applies solely at the level of the individual.
• Egalitarianism: Modern liberal political philosophy rejects the idea of
natural authority — that there are natural political hierarchies — and insists
upon the equality of each person's individual conception of the good.
• Contractualism: Modern liberal political philosophy believes in the inherent
self-sufficiency of the individual; that man is not naturally social, but forms
relationships with others — including civic and political relationships — on
contractual grounds.
Lecture XXX The Foundations of Modern Liberal Politics — Part I

Modern Liberal Political Philosophy:

The Logic of Contracts: A contract is justified if it can be shown to be in
the interest of both parties. When this ceases to be the case, the contract
is dissolved.
• The essential logic of contracts, then, is the logic of rational self-interest. The
question as to whether a contract can be justified, then, can be phrased as follows:
"Does the contract pass the rationally self-interested person test?"
• In the political context, the question, 'Why should there be a civil society or
government?' can be reformulated as follows: 'Does the social/political contract
pass the rationally self-interested person test?' In answering it, we will be
required to ask, "What would life be like without civil society or government?"
• The State of Nature Thought Experiment: A thought experiment, in which we
imagine a hypothetical state of nature, in which there is no civil society or
government, and speculate as to what life would be like in such a state.
Lecture XXX The Foundations of Modern Liberal Politics — Part I

Modern Liberal Political Philosophy:

John Locke's Second Treatise of Government
• Of all the modern political philosophies, Locke's way of
thinking on political subjects is the closest to our own. The
Second Treatise of Government appears a generation before
the American founding fathers.
• The book served to justify England's "Glorious Revolution,"
which resulted in the balance of political power shifting from
the King to the parliament and made the case for consensual
government.
Lecture XXX The Foundations of Modern Liberal Politics — Part I

Next time: John Locke's Second Treatise of

Government