Reclaiming Liberalism

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“David Hardwick and Leslie Marsh have assembled a contentious collection of independent thinkers on liberalism’s identity and prospects. Should liberalism be democratic, classical, ordo, legalistic, culture-based, market-based, or what? The international crew of authors—from Australia, Canada, China and the USA—draw upon the insights of key historic figures from Locke to Montesquieu to Burke to Dewey to Hayek to Rawls (and of course others, given liberalism’s rich history), and they leave us with a set of liberalisms both in collision and in overlapping agreement. This book is stimulating reading for those engaged with next-generation liberal thought.” —Stephen R. C. Hicks, Professor of Philosophy at Rockford University. This collection redresses the conceptual hubris and illiteracy that has come to obscure the central presuppositions of classical liberalism - that is, the wresting of epistemic independence from overwhelming concentrations of power, monopolies and capricious zealotries, whether they be statist, religious or corporate in character. Preface......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Contents......Page 11 Notes on Contributors......Page 13 List of Figures......Page 17 Helping Others Versus Self-Help: Implications of Classical Liberalism......Page 18 Coercive Institutions......Page 20 Individual Alienation Contracts: The Voluntary Slavery Contract......Page 21 Individual Alienation Contracts: The Coverture Marriage Contract......Page 28 Collective Alienation Contracts: The Hobbesian Pactum Subjectionis......Page 29 The Self-Sale Contract and the Pactum Subjectionis......Page 34 The Self-Rental Contract......Page 37 Some Intellectual History of Inalienable Rights......Page 38 The Implications for Today’s Social-Organizational Structures......Page 42 John Stuart Mill......Page 43 John Dewey......Page 46 Re-constitutionalizing the Corporation......Page 47 Conclusion......Page 48 References......Page 52 Democracy, Liberalism, and Discretion: The Political Puzzle of the Administrative State......Page 57 Administrative Law......Page 60 The American Reception of the Administrative State......Page 62 After 1946......Page 70 The Challenge to Liberalism......Page 73 References......Page 77 Introduction......Page 79 Ordoliberalism: Historical Context, Key Personalities and Basic Principles......Page 81 Containment of Power as Core Ordoliberal Strategy, and the Role of Competition......Page 88 The Socio-Cultural Element Associated with Ordoliberalism: A Critical Assessment......Page 93 Conclusion......Page 99 References......Page 101 Liberalism, Through a Glass Darkly......Page 107 Liberalism: Three Theses......Page 109 Liberal Justice......Page 114 Liberal Equality......Page 119 Liberal Rights......Page 125 Liberalism and Human Nature......Page 129 Liberalism: Religion and State......Page 131 Some Concluding Observations......Page 132 References......Page 136 Liberalism and the Modern Quest for Freedom......Page 140 Puzzles......Page 141 An Account of Liberalism......Page 142 Cautions......Page 146 Freedom 1: “Freedom from Religious Domination”......Page 148 Freedom 2: “Freedom from Foreign Domination”......Page 149 Freedom 3: “Freedom from Religious Civil War”......Page 151 Freedom 4: “Freedom from Tyranny”......Page 153 Freedom 5: “Freedom from Government Interference in the Economy”......Page 155 Freedom 6: “Freedom from Rule by Another”......Page 157 Freedom 7: “Freedom from Economic Exploitation”......Page 158 Freedom 8: “Freedom from Discrimination Based on Moral Prejudice”......Page 161 Freedom 9: “Freedom from Biological Inequality and Constraint”......Page 162 Assessing Contemporary Liberalism......Page 163 Liberalism’s Eudaimonic Expectation......Page 164 Liberal Accretion and the Warlike Quality of Contemporary Liberalism......Page 166 The Problem of Liberal Meaninglessness......Page 169 Concluding Reflections on Reclaiming Liberalism......Page 170 References......Page 175 Liberalism for the Twenty-First Century: From Markets to Civil Society, from Economics to Human Beings......Page 178 An Evolutionary Tradition......Page 179 Liberalism, Evolution, and Darwin......Page 180 The Nature of Social Action......Page 182 The Biology of Community......Page 184 The Cultural Ecosystem of Freedom......Page 186 The Superiority of Evolutionary over Individualist Liberalism......Page 188 References......Page 190 Introduction......Page 194 The Arginusae Trial......Page 197 Socrates as Epistatês......Page 202 Demos Versus Nomos......Page 207 Justice and the Rule of Law......Page 215 Classical Sources......Page 228 Modern Sources......Page 229 Burke’s Liberalism: Prejudice, Habit, Affections, and the Remaking of the Social Contract......Page 233 Contemporary Critics of Liberalism......Page 236 Liberalism’s Philosophical Commitments......Page 238 Burke and Affectionate Liberalism......Page 243 The Intergenerational Compact......Page 250 Burke on Revolution......Page 252 Burke’s Solution for Liberalism’s Ills......Page 254 Conclusion......Page 256 References......Page 258 Democratic Peace Theory, Montesquieu, and Public Choice......Page 260 Limits of the Theory......Page 265 New Capitalist Man?......Page 266 Doux Commerce and Nature......Page 268 Curing Destructive Prejudices......Page 271 Changing Mores......Page 272 Commerce: The Future and the Past......Page 273 A Contemporary Research Agenda for Montesquieu’s Capitalist Peace Theory......Page 275 Institutional Environments and Mores......Page 277 Incentives and Individuals......Page 279 Incentives, Politics, and Public Choice......Page 280 Conclusion......Page 283 References......Page 288 Liberalism in Modern China......Page 293 From “Venture Communist” to “China’s Hayek”......Page 295 Economic Calculation and Socialist Planning......Page 298 Famine, Politics in Command and the Horrors of Totalitarian Rule......Page 305 From Revolutionary Idealism to Liberal Empiricism......Page 314 References......Page 320 Author Index......Page 324 Subject Index......Page 328