What and how important is freedom to the ideology of liberalism?

Doing an essay on this. Not sure how to structure it. Do i talk about modern/classical liberalism? DO i talk in length about theorists like Mill? And struggle on structuring something like this as it is 3000 words i believe. I mean basically 10 main paragraphs on what exactly? It is evident freedom is an important part, but how do i get around this in 10 paragraphs? And is there a part where i say it isn't important and take a critical view? But it seems like it's crucial in all theories of it? Also freedom gets defined differently by different theorists. Just struggling to see how to write this. Thanks in advance! :smile:

Reply 1

anon1212

liberalism is associated with democracy and freedom to express who you are as an individual and not according to any tradition, and have the state satisfy your basic needs, therefore allowing you to flourish as a personality. conservatism, the opposite, is a form of freedom as it minimises the role of state, and the individuals success is determined solely by their own effort, and have complete autonomy of their life. One can make up their own mind about which sort of freedom is better.

Reply 2

Gob Bluth

Original post by anon1212

Right thanks for that one mate :smile:

So do i talk about liberalisms roots in its associations with democracy and freedom in how you say that? And would i base it around that? So would that negate the usage of political thinkers to use in the essay? And shall i talk about modern and classical liberalism?

Anyone else more than free to comments. The more clarification and help the better to be honest, as i'm not sure at all!

Reply 3

anon1212

Original post by Gob Bluth

Right thanks for that one mate :smile:

I'm not really sure to be honest, but that could be the basis of your argument. You could use political thinkers to show greater research into the ideology. Talk about all forms of liberalism and which form your argument is based on.

Reply 4

Gob Bluth

Original post by anon1212

Must say this essay has really got to me. I've almost done it now, but i've seemed to talk about irrelevant stuff a lot of the time. But i'm finding it hard not to constantly to talk about the importance of the idea of freedom? Rather, i've mentioned it's influence on the UDHR and modern society, and gone to explain positive and negative freedom in detail with theorists like Maccullum and Berlin mentioned. Also stuff like critique of freedom i've gone in to. I just don't see how it's possible to write 2500 words on why freedom is important when it's evident in a sentence how it is LOL.

It just seems weird with the title. I mean it's obviously important so i have no idea if i'm doing the right thing here in going off the track as it were!

Reply 5

anon1212

Yep I guess that's how a lot of academic essays go where you end up writing a lot of irrelevant stuff, but that's normal and what you should do to make it a more interesting essay. As long as your introduction and conclusion are more focused on the topic.

Reply 6

Gob Bluth

Original post by anon1212

Yeh that's what's happening. Still learning with regards to academic essays, so learning to understand how to write it and stuff still, but yeh thanks for the help in all this mate. :smile:

Reply 7

Keckers

It depends what you mean by liberalism.

Neo liberalism and classical liberalism have some massive differences.

Reply 8

Gob Bluth

Original post by Keckers

It depends what you mean by liberalism.

Neo liberalism and classical liberalism have some massive differences.

Well exactly. It's the essay title, hence the broad nature of it. But i'm going for the more broad version of liberalism in what i'm writing, and basing it around things like positive and negative liberty as the main point.

Reply 9

Keckers

Original post by Gob Bluth

Is the thread title the specific essay title?

Things to focus on would be differences between neo and classical liberals on individual liberty, negative liberty, freedom from government/coercion etc. Modern libertarianism may also be an avenue worth exploring.

On Liberty by John Stuart Mill will definitely be a good starting point

Reply 10

prog2djent

What type?

Classical Liberalism - Liberal Economy (free markets/capitalism) liberal society
Neo-Liberalism - Economic Privatisation and social conservatism + Militarism/intervention/occupation
Progressive Liberalism - Statist economy and statist society
"New Left" Progressive Liberalism - Democratic socialism + social liberalism
Modern Liberalism - Social Democratic Economy + social statism

Liberal = Liberty, Liberty = freedom from, freedom from = Negative Liberal, freedom to = positive liberty, freedom from what? The state in the economy and social lives.

Liberalism in the strictest sense is classical liberalism, freedom is most important to that,