Sublime

The liberal story cherishes human liberty as its number one value. It argues that all authority ultimately stems from the free will of individual humans, as expressed in their feelings, desires, and choices. In politics, liberalism believes that the voter knows best. It therefore upholds democratic elections. In economics, liberalism maintains that

The great political defect of Locke and his disciples, from a modern point of View, was their worship of property.

Dans les Temps modernes, cependant, l’égalité a fini par devenir un idéal dans presque toutes les sociétés humaines. Cela tient en partie à l’essor des idéologies nouvelles du communisme et du libéralisme. Mais la révolution industrielle y est aussi pour quelque chose dans la mesure où elle a rendu les masses plus importantes que jamais. Les économ

The liberal belief in the feelings and free choices of individuals is neither natural nor very ancient. For thousands of years people believed that authority came from divine laws rather than from the human heart, and that we should therefore sanctify the word of God rather than human liberty. Only in the last few centuries did the source of author

On the other hand, the growing awareness on the part of governments, as well as of employers, taxpayers, enlightened pedagogues, and school administrators, that graded curricular teaching for certification has become harmful could offer large masses of people an extraordinary opportunity: that of preserving the right of equal access to the tools bo

Gradually, however, subjectivism invaded men’s feelings as well as their doctrines. Science was no longer cultivated, and only virtue was thought important. Virtue, as conceived by Plato, involved all that was then possible in the way of mental achievement; but in later centuries it came to be thought of, increasingly, as involving only the virtuou

Or, si le libéralisme et le communisme sont désormais discrédités, peut-être les humains doivent-ils abandonner l’idée même d’un seul récit global ? Tous ces récits généraux, même le communisme, n’étaient-ils pas, somme toute, le produit de l’impérialisme occidental ? Pourquoi les villageois vietnamiens auraient-ils foi dans les cogitations d’un Al

The political philosopher Danielle Allen makes a powerful argument that the fundamental purpose of the American public education system is to ensure an informed citizenry.

Berlin, lui, pense que l’État devrait défendre la « liberté négative » des citoyens – leur liberté contre les interférences d’autrui – tout en les laissant poursuivre leur « liberté positive », leur conception d’une vie de bien. L’État devrait résister à la tentation de se mêler de la vie privée des citoyens et ne devrait jamais essayer de soigner