Political Science 1020E Lecture Notes - Lecture 7: Economic Liberalism, Robert Nozick, Neoliberalism
Document Summary
We are asking about the fundamental political (moral) values at the heart of our social and political lives: social justice, freedom, equality. Individual autonomy is what liberals are mainly trying to protect. But liberalism only wants to defend individuals" freedom to form, revise, and pursue a conception of the good life. Everyone should be equally free to do this^ Sometimes community" is used as code for morality": people should care for each other, so we should reject egoistic liberal individualism. But liberalism is a moral doctrine: it says the freedom of each person matters equally. Liberal morality aims to ensure that individuals are free to decide for themselves how to live, as long as they treat others with equal respect. Any liberal state should protect and promote the freedom of individual citizens. One way to be a liberal is to be a libertarian like robert nozick: minimal state, no redistributive taxation.