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Philosophy vocabulary · Political Philosophy

Liberalism

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˈlɪbərəlɪzəm/nounCommon term

In philosophy, liberalism means: A tradition in political philosophy that puts individual liberty, equal rights and limits on state power at the center of political life.

In Turkish: liberalizm

How it is used

Key figures include Locke, Mill and, in the twentieth century, Rawls. Philosophers distinguish classical liberalism, which stresses free markets and limited government, from egalitarian liberalism, which supports more redistribution. In US everyday politics, liberal means center-left, a much narrower sense.

Example sentences

  1. Political liberalism asks how people with different worldviews can share fair institutions.

  2. Communitarians criticize liberalism for treating individuals as if they had no social ties.

Common collocations

  • classical liberalism
  • political liberalism
  • egalitarian liberalism
  • liberal democracy
  • libertyThe condition of being free to act and choose without unjustified interference, especially from the state or from other people.
  • natural rightsRights that people are thought to have simply by being human, before and independently of any law or government.
  • justiceThe fair and proper treatment of people, especially in how a society distributes rights, duties, goods and punishments.
  • veil of ignoranceJohn Rawls's thought experiment in which people choose principles of justice without knowing their own place in society, such as their class, talents or gender.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Political Philosophy

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