What are the core values of liberalism, and how can they best be promoted? Liberals in the classical tradition championed individual freedom, limited government, and a capitalist economic system with strong rights to private property. Contemporary liberals, in contrast, embrace more egalitarian values and allow for a far more prominent role for government intervention in the market to reduce inequality, redistribute wealth, and regulate economic activity. What accounts for these very disparate liberal views of property rights and economic freedom? How should we understand the transition from the classical view of liberalism to its more egalitarian modern version? And what, ideally, should the relationship be between the central values of liberalism and the economic institutions of capitalism? The eleven essays in this volume address these questions and examine related issues.
1. The paradox of John Stuart Mill Alan Charles Kors; 2. Capitalism in the classical and high liberal traditions Samuel Freeman; 3. Founding liberalism, progressive liberalism, and the rights of property Ronald J. Pestritto; 4. The property equilibrium in a liberal social order (or how to correct our moral vision) Gerald Gaus; 5. Judicial liberalism and capitalism: Justice Field reconsidered Michael P. Zuckert; 6. Liberty after Lehman Brothers Loren E. Lomasky; 7. A Lockean argument for universal access to health care Daniel M. Hausman; 8. Euvoluntary or not, exchange is just Michael C. Munger; 9. Rule consequentialism makes sense after all Tyler Cowen; 10. Liberalism, capitalism, and 'socialist' principles Richard J. Arneson; 11. Are modern American liberals socialists or social democrats? N. Scott Arnold.
Overview
What are the core values of liberalism, and how can they best be promoted? Liberals in the classical tradition championed individual freedom, limited government, and a capitalist economic system with strong rights to private property. Contemporary liberals, in contrast, embrace more egalitarian values and allow for a far more prominent role for government intervention in the market to reduce inequality, redistribute wealth, and regulate economic activity. What accounts for these very disparate liberal views of ...