The State & Rationalism

Political Studies: Edexcel A Level, topic 6.1.2

The State

Liberalism supports the idea that the state is a necessary evil.

For Liberals, the state is a necessary evil.
Necessary because it provides the structures that avoid disorder and harm to individuals.
Evil because it has the power to coerce individuals and restrict individual liberty.
Because of this, liberals believe in restricting the power of the state, especially in the economy.

Liberals disagree with paternalism - the restriction of an individual’s freedom by an external body in the individual's perceived interest.
Paternalism does not respect the individual as a rational being and does not respect individual freedom.

The state should be limited as much as possible.
Liberals support limiting the state through constitutionalism (having a constitutional-style government, especially one that promotes individual liberty), having an independent judiciary, and supporting the rule of law.
Some state intervention is needed to keep order in society, but this is minimal.

Classical liberals support laissez-faire economics and support only limited state intervention in the economy.
Modern liberals are more likely to support more state interventions in the economy and society to promote positive freedoms.
Liberals support limited intervention because they see humans as being rational and able to improve themselves.
Therefore, we should trust humans to make the right choices when given individual freedom, and the state isn’t needed to steer us in the right direction.

Rationalism is the belief that human beings are rational, reasonable and logical.

Being rational means to make decisions based on weighing up all of the possible outcomes with logic and reason, rather than emotion.
Rationalism supports individual freedom and self-determination (freedom to choose one’s own path and future).
Humans make decisions and moral choices according to reason and logic, and so must be entrusted to make them free from interference.

Paternalist ideologies such as one-nation conservatism believe that some individuals are not able to make the right, or most rational decisions for themselves and so must be helped.
Liberalism disagrees with this idea.

Liberalism promotes a progressive society, as it supports the idea that individuals are rational rather than ruled by forces out of their control (such as religion).
As well as this, liberalism supports the idea that no human is less rational than any other, and supports equal rights and freedoms for women, people of all ethnicities and people of all social backgrounds.
As a result, liberals support progressive societies where all people have the same rights and freedoms.
Liberals promote tolerance.

Tolerance is a willingness to respect opinions, values, customs and beliefs (religious, political etc) with which you disagree.
Voltaire is associated with tolerance, as his biographer Beatrice Evelyn Hall paraphrased: ‘I detest what you say, but shall defend to the death your right to say it’ in her 1906 biography of him.
John Locke is associated with tolerance. In his Letter Concerning Toleration (1689), Locke argued for greater religious toleration for many Protestant groups, although he did not support full toleration for Catholics or atheists.