Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 18: John Maynard Keynes, Social Liberalism, Radical Change
27 Nov 2016
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Welfare liberalism: government is not merely a necessary evil, state can advance individual liberty by promoting equal opportunities. On freedom (two concepts): positive freedom (this is what green"s view was) Actual ability to do something worth doing: negative freedom. Main obstacles to freedom: poverty, ignorance, prejudice, sickness, government can promote freedom through poor relief, public schools and hospitals, regulation of working conditions. Duty of state to provide social security and welfare, education and welfare. Redistribution of wealth to make worse off better. Response to social, political, and economic change. Edmund burke against the french revolution of 1789. Predicted revolution would end with destruction of catholic church, monarch execution, and rise of military dictator. This is what happen when rule of law breaks down. 1800s: conservatives react to industrialization, liberalism and socialism. Give benefit of doubt to what already exists. Humans don"t know better than centuries of accumulated traditions. We are imperfect and not changeable by social engineering.
