Concepts of Liberty
Concepts of Liberty
Responsibility
People are responsible for their actions. They bear the consequences and measure their actions by yardsticks, the most important ones being their own conscience and own standards, which can be explained in a number of ways.
Living together in a society introduces yet another standard, namely the set of rules and laws that society has laid down for itself. In modern states these laws have been codified in a legal system and apply equally to all citizens. If you violate the law, you will be penalised. If you damage somebody else's property, then you will pay damages, as specified in the civil code.
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People are responsible for their actions. They bear the consequences and measure their actions by yardsticks, the most important ones being their own conscience and own standards, which can be explained in a number of ways.
Living together in a society introduces yet another standard, namely the set of rules and laws that society has laid down for itself. In modern states these laws have been codified in a legal system and apply equally to all citizens. If you violate the law, you will be penalised. If you damage somebody else's property, then you will pay damages, as specified in the civil code.
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Concepts of Liberty
Market Economy
For fear of being politically incorrect, many people use the term 'market economy' only with the qualifier 'social'. There is no reason for liberals to succumb to the pressure of what is wrongly seen as political correctness, because, contrary to the propaganda spread by worshippers of state, advocates of the welfare state and opponents of globalisation, the market economy does not need qualifiers to be socially acceptable: it is social.
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For fear of being politically incorrect, many people use the term 'market economy' only with the qualifier 'social'. There is no reason for liberals to succumb to the pressure of what is wrongly seen as political correctness, because, contrary to the propaganda spread by worshippers of state, advocates of the welfare state and opponents of globalisation, the market economy does not need qualifiers to be socially acceptable: it is social.
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Concepts of Liberty
Liberalism
Liberalism is being identified - and rightly so - with policies centering on the individual, his right to freedom and his responsibility. It is emphasising efficiency, competition, and economic progress within the framework of a market economy where the power of the state is limited to an indispensable minimum.
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Liberalism is being identified - and rightly so - with policies centering on the individual, his right to freedom and his responsibility. It is emphasising efficiency, competition, and economic progress within the framework of a market economy where the power of the state is limited to an indispensable minimum.
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Concepts of Liberty
Freedom
"The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave."
There is no more vivid articulation of the liberal credo than this quote by Alexis de Tocqueville from 1856.
People are free when their actions are not hampered by the obstacles others put in their way. However, this kind of liberty is desirable and can be morally justified only if it does not destroy the principle in itself. Liberals believe that freedom of action ends when it resorts to force and coercion to curtail the very same freedom enjoyed by others. In other words, we need a more precise definition of the sphere of freedom that each individual is entitled to.
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"The man who asks of freedom anything other than itself is born to be a slave."
There is no more vivid articulation of the liberal credo than this quote by Alexis de Tocqueville from 1856.
People are free when their actions are not hampered by the obstacles others put in their way. However, this kind of liberty is desirable and can be morally justified only if it does not destroy the principle in itself. Liberals believe that freedom of action ends when it resorts to force and coercion to curtail the very same freedom enjoyed by others. In other words, we need a more precise definition of the sphere of freedom that each individual is entitled to.
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Concepts of Liberty
Competition
Competition as a fundamental principle of evolution and discovery is part of our nature: from butterflies competing for the best spot in the sun to people competing for the Pulitzer Prize and for Olympic medals. Limited resources given, competition in open systems makes possible a maximum of trial-and-error processes to find optimal routes of evolution of species. In a market economy, competition on open markets, guaranteed by its legal and institutional framework, improves chances to discover renewable sources and use them according to their opportunity costs e.g.; competition helps to promote best educational systems and spread the constitution of liberty.
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Competition as a fundamental principle of evolution and discovery is part of our nature: from butterflies competing for the best spot in the sun to people competing for the Pulitzer Prize and for Olympic medals. Limited resources given, competition in open systems makes possible a maximum of trial-and-error processes to find optimal routes of evolution of species. In a market economy, competition on open markets, guaranteed by its legal and institutional framework, improves chances to discover renewable sources and use them according to their opportunity costs e.g.; competition helps to promote best educational systems and spread the constitution of liberty.
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