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Key Thinkers - Coggle Diagram

- - - - • The state was not created by God, nor is the monarchy legitimised by the ‘divine right of kings’. Rather, the state is created via a social contract between the rulers and the ruled: the principle of government by consent.
        
        • Prior to the existence of the state, humans existed in a state of nature, a phrase and concept Locke borrowed from Thomas Hobbes (see Chapter 10). Locke argued that within the state of nature the human race was underpinned by ‘natural laws’, ‘natural liberties’ and ‘natural rights’. The freedoms were extremely desirable and so the state must not encroach on them.
        
        • Locke defined natural rights as ‘life, liberty and estate’ (with estate meaning private property). Natural rights are negative rights, the right not to be subject to interference by another person or the state. This is connected to the idea of negative freedom, which is a central principle for both classical and neo-liberalism. For Locke, government was legitimate only if was legally protecting natural rights.
        
        • The ‘state of law’ that Locke envisaged would see the state resolve disputes between individuals more equitably than can be achieved within a state of nature.
        
        • The state’s interference in society and economy should be limited. This would ensure that the state always represented the interests of the governed and always required their ongoing consent. The state should be limited under the principle of constitutionalism, with a clear separation of powers to prevent an abuse of power.
        
        • There should be tolerance between alternative religious and political views
  - - - • Mill argued for restraint by the state, leaving individuals to be free to take whatever actions they judged fit, provided these did not harm others. This latter point became known as the harm principle.
        
        • Mill distinguished between ‘self-regarding’ actions (such as religious worship or freedom of speech), which do not impinge on the freedom of others and should be tolerated, and ‘other regarding’ actions (involving violent or riotous behaviour), which clearly do ‘harm’ and infringe the freedom of others and should not be tolerated by a liberal state.
        
        • Mill argued that the state should be tolerant of diverse opinions. This attitude has been paraphrased by Evelyn Beatrice Hall: ‘I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
        
        • Mill believed that individual liberty was essential for the development of the individual in terms of creativity, culture and intellect. If individuals were able to develop their individualism, the whole of society would benefit.
        
        • Unlike earlier liberals who perceived human nature as the finished article, Mill argued that humans could always improve. Mill distinguished between the rights of the individual with what he called individuality, or developmental individualism, where he was concerned with what the individual might become.
        
        • He opposed popular democracy, where the interests of the few could be crushed by the interests of the majority. As an alternative, he supported the idea of representative democracy with a limited government. The representatives would aggregate all the demands of individuals to create a broad consensus for decision making rather than strictly following the will of the majority. Mass education was a means to facilitate developmental individualism so that only the educated could vote and those with a higher level of education could have multiple votes.
        
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