POLS 110 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Noblesse Oblige, Practical Reason, Red Tory
10 Jul 2016
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Document Summary
Reason can and should take us beyond ideology. Assumptions about human nature are taken as facts. Reason will also lead to human progress- to an end to false beliefs (ideologies) and also to greater economic, technical achievements. Agreement on the need for a state based in rationality the importance of markets and human rights. For the social liberal, this can also mean greater social awareness and care for others. For the neo liberal everyone will benefit from the economic advances made by capitalism. Economic freedom is good when/ if it supports positive freedoms like equality, happiness etc. Critical of neo-liberalism"s anti-state stance and belief in the good of all market transactions. Moral development of individual as a consequence of competitive striving. Democracy is good insofar as it supports economic liberalism, the free market, the advancement of the individual. Neo-liberalism shades into libertarianism, but its moral leanings can sometimes link it also to fundamentalism and/or conservatism.
