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Cette étude des Contributions à la théorie libérale est une liste non exhaustive des contributions à la pensée libérale par des auteurs du monde entier, dans un ordre chronologique autant que possible. Le but de cet article n'est pas de rentrer dans le détail de la pensée de chaque auteur mais d'en permettre un résumé rapide.

Cette liste est constitutée de trois parties

• Protolibéralisme
• De Locke à Mill
• Le développement du libéralisme

Sommaire 1 Antiques 1.1 Aristote 2 Humanisme 2.1 Nicolas Machiavel 2.2 Erasme 2.3 Hugo Grotius 2.4 Thomas Hobbes 2.5 Baruch Spinoza 3 De Locke à Mill 3.1 John Locke 3.2 John Trenchard 3.3 Charles de Montesquieu 3.4 Thomas Gordon 3.5 François Quesnay 3.6 Voltaire 3.7 Benjamin Franklin 3.8 David Hume 3.9 Jean-Jacques Rousseau 3.10 Denis Diderot 3.11 Jean le Rond d'Alembert 3.12 Samuel Adams 3.13 Richard Price 3.14 Anders Chydenius 3.15 Adam Smith 3.16 William Blackstone 3.17 Immanuel Kant 3.18 Anne Robert Jacques Turgot 3.19 Edmund Burke 3.20 Joseph Priestley 3.21 August Ludwig von Schlözer 3.22 Patrick Henry 3.23 Thomas Paine 3.24 Thomas Jefferson 3.25 Marquis de Condorcet 3.26 Jeremy Bentham 3.27 Emmanuel Sieyès 3.28 James Madison 3.29 Alexander Hamilton 3.30 Anne Louise Germaine de Staël 3.31 Benjamin Constant 3.32 Jean-Baptiste Say 3.33 Wilhelm von Humboldt 3.34 David Ricardo 3.35 James Mill 3.36 Frédéric Bastiat 3.37 Johan Rudolf Thorbecke 3.38 Harriet Martineau 3.39 Ralph Waldo Emerson 3.40 Alexis de Tocqueville 3.41 William Lloyd Garrison 3.42 Friedrich Schiller 4 Mill and further, the development of (international) liberalism 4.1 John Stuart Mill 4.2 Abraham Lincoln 4.3 Juan Bautista Alberdi 4.4 Henry David Thoreau 4.5 Jacob Burckhardt 4.6 Herbert Spencer 4.7 Thomas Hill Green 4.8 Carl Menger 4.9 William Graham Sumner 4.10 Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. 4.11 Lujo Brentano 4.12 Tomáš Masaryk 4.13 Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk 4.14 Louis Brandeis 4.15 Thorstein Veblen 4.16 John Dewey 4.17 Friedrich Naumann 4.18 Max Weber 4.19 Leonard Hobhouse 4.20 Benedetto Croce 4.21 Walther Rathenau 4.22 William Beveridge 4.23 Ludwig von Mises 4.24 John Maynard Keynes 4.25 José Ortega y Gasset 4.26 Salvador de Madariaga 4.27 Upton Sinclair 4.28 Will Durant 4.29 Adolf Berle 4.30 Wilhelm Röpke 4.31 Bertil Ohlin 4.32 Friedrich Hayek 4.33 Karl Popper 4.34 Alan Paton 4.35 John Hicks 4.36 Raymond Aron 4.37 Simone de Beauvoir 4.38 John Kenneth Galbraith 4.39 Isaiah Berlin 4.40 Milton Friedman 4.41 Arthur Schlesinger Jr. 4.42 James Buchanan 4.43 John Rawls 4.44 Murray Newton Rothbard 4.45 Ralf Dahrendorf 4.46 Karl-Hermann Flach 4.47 Joseph Raz 4.48 Ronald Dworkin 4.49 Richard Rorty 4.50 Amartya Sen 4.51 Robert Nozick 4.52 Hernando de Soto 4.53 Bruce Ackerman 4.54 Joseph Stiglitz 4.55 Martha Nussbaum 4.56 Francis Fukuyama 4.57 Dirk Verhofstadt 4.58 Will Kymlicka 5 Voir aussi

[modifier] Antiques

[modifier] Aristote

Aristote (Athènes, 384 avant JC - 322 avant JC) est reconnu pour ses travaux sur la Politique, en particulier dans son ouvrage La politique'. Il contribua à la théorie libérale par ses multiples remarques sur les atouts et inconvénients des différents régimes politiques. Pour lui, le meilleur gouvernement est celui qui apporte à son peuple le bonheur. En partant d'une analyse de six formes de gouvernement, Aristote conclut que le meilleur compromis se situe entre démocratoe et oligarchie: Tous peuvent voter mais ne peuvent élire que des candidats issus des citoyens riches et vertueux. Il complète cette analyse en idéalisant les classes moyennes, compromis entre les "excès des riches" et "la jalousie des pauvres". Enfin, à la différence de Platon, il défend ardemment la propriété privée, rappelant qu'un homme travaillera bien plus si il touche les fruits de son travail, et que, in fine, cela fera le bien de la société.

[modifier] Humanisme

[modifier] Nicolas Machiavel

Nicolas Machiavel (Florence, 1469-1527), connu comme l'auteur du Prince est le fondateur de la philosophie politique réaliste moderne et défendir la république, la séparation des pouvoirs ou la protection de la propriété privée. Il a insisté sur l'importance de l'initiative individuelle pour le bon fonctionnement de la république. La liberté est pour lui le bien central que le gouvernement doit garantir. Cependant pour d'autres Machiavel est surtout le défenseur de l'idée antilibérale que "la fin justifie les moyens" et le promoteur d'un état fort dans la main d'un chef.

• Oeuvres:
  • Le Prince, 1513

[modifier] Erasme

Erasme (Pays Bas, 1466-1536) était un humaniste, critique de l'irrationnel et de la superstition.

• Oeuvres:
  • L'Éloge de la Folie, 1509
  • Essais sur le libre arbitre, 1524

[modifier] Hugo Grotius

Hugo Grotius (1583-1645) est un philosophe néerlandais qui a posé les bases du droit international dans son ouvrage Mare Liberum (Mers libres)) qui postule que les mers sont territoire international utilisable par tout pays. Dans De jure belli ac pacis libri tres il élabore une théorie de la guerre juste et défend l'idée selon laquelle tous les pays sont tenus par les principes de la loi naturelle.

[modifier] Thomas Hobbes

Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) théorisa l'idée selon laquelle le gouvernement est le résultat des actions individuelles et de contrats consentis librement entre individus et qu'il est conduit par l'"intérêt". C'est la base de l'idée libérale que les individus peuvent s'autogouverner et s'autoréguler. SonLéviathan ne traduit pas ce point de vue mais plutôt que seul un gouvernement fort peut réguler la poursuite des intérêts individuels. Cependant il défend aussi dans le Léviathan un droit inaliénable de se défendre, y compris contre l'état. Même si pour ces raisons ranger Hobbes dans les libéraux est problématique, il a influencé Locke, Hamilton, Jefferson et de nombreux auteurs libéraux.

[modifier] Baruch Spinoza

Baruch Spinoza (1632-1677) est un proto-libéral défendant dans son Tractatus Theologico-Politicus et dans son Tractatus Politicus la séparation de l'église et de l'état. Tout particulièrement dans le premier ouvrage, il s'insurge contre l'intolérance religieuse. Spinoza était très déterministe et considérait que la liberté ce n'était pas pouvoir dire non mais pouvoir dire oui et de comprendre pourquoi les choses devaient arriver ainsi

• Contributing literature:
  • Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, 1670
  • Tractatus Politicus, 1677

[modifier] De Locke à Mill

[modifier] John Locke

John Locke (1632-1704) a développé des idées qui ont fortement influencé le libéralisme: Un gouvernement limité et consenti par ceux qu'il gouverne ainsi que la défense des droits naturels de l'homme: vie, liberté et jouissance de ses biens. Sa théorie du droit de propriété en découle et en fait un droit inviolable.

• Oeuvres:
  • Lettre sur la tolérance, 1689
  • Les deux Traités du gouvernement civil, 1689 [1]

[modifier] John Trenchard

John Trenchard (United Kingdom, 1662-1723) was co-author, with Thomas Gordon of Cato's Letters. These newspaper essays condemned tyranny and advanced principles of freedom of conscience and freedom of speech and were a main vehicle for spreading the concepts that had been developed by John Locke.

• Some literature:
  • Cato's Letters / John Trenchard & Thomas Gordon, 1720-1723

[modifier] Charles de Montesquieu

Charles de Montesquieu (France, 1689-1755), connu pour la défense qu'il fit de la séparation des pouvoirs.

• Oeuvres:
  • De l'esprit des lois,1748
  • Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1751-1772 {Encyclopaedia,

[modifier] Thomas Gordon

Thomas Gordon (Grande Bretagne, 169?-1750) coauteur avec John Trenchard des Cato's Letters. Ces journaux s'insurgeaient contre la tyrannie et défendaient la liberté de conscience et de parole. Ils diffusaient les idées de John Locke. .

• Oeuvres:
  • Cato's Letters / John Trenchard & Thomas Gordon, 1720-1723

[modifier] François Quesnay

François Quesnay (France, 1694-1774), physiocrate français

• Oeuvres:
  • Tableau économique, 1758
  • Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1751-1772

[modifier] Voltaire

Voltaire (France, 1694-1778)

• Some literature:
  • Lettres Philosophiques sur les Anglais, 1734
  • Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, 1751-1772
  • Essai sur l'histoire génerale et sur les moeurs et l'espirit des nations, 1756
  • Traité sur la Tolérance à l'occasion de la mort de Jean Calas, 1763
  • Dictionnaire Philosophique, 1764

[modifier] Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin (United States, 1706-1790) was an inventor, scientist, writer, entrepreneur, diplomat and statesman was an advocate for free trade and the end of mercantilism, industrialization, abolition of slavery, free public libraries, democratic government and national unity. His Autobiography is also a seminal work on the life of a free individual who is self-governing in his pursuit of accomplishment, without need for an over-arching state, allegiance or religion to force adherence to basic moral and ethical principles.

• Some literature:
  • "Progress of true science," a letter to Joseph Priestley, 1780, perhaps Franklin's most radical (but brief) work, emphasizing radical ideas that are centuries ahead of his time related to natural scientific inquiry, morality and humanity.

[modifier] David Hume

David Hume (Grande Bretagne, 1711-1776)

• Some literature:
  • An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, 1751

[modifier] Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (France, 1712-1778) promulgated the idea that men were naturally free, but had to be educated to live in society. This required a natural liberty and a "national will" which could be directed to improvement of the society. He is famous for the quote "men are born free, but are everywhere in chains", and urging that Europeans throw off the restrictions that they lived under, and substitute, instead, a self-governing moral basis.

However, Rousseau's ideal society was very illiberal: he advocated an unhindered power of the sovereign over the body and property of the individual; he spoke against private ownership and human rights, such as the freedom of press.

• Some literature:
  • Du Contrat Social, 1762 (The Social Contract [2])

[modifier] Denis Diderot

Denis Diderot (France, 1713-1784)

• Some literature:
  • Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (together with others), 1751-1772 {Encyclopaedia, or Reasoned Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades [3])

[modifier] Jean le Rond d'Alembert

Jean le Rond d'Alembert (France, 1717-1783)

• Some literature:
  • Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers (together with others), 1751-1772 {Encyclopaedia, or Reasoned Dictionary of the Sciences, Arts, and Trades [4])

[modifier] Samuel Adams

Samuel Adams (United States, 1722-1803)

[modifier] Richard Price

Richard Price (United Kingdom, 1723-1791)

• Some literature:
  • Appeal to the Public on the Subject of the National Debt, 1771
  • Observations on Reversionary Payments, 1771
  • Observations on Civil Liberty and the Justice and Policy of the War with America, 1776

[modifier] Anders Chydenius

Anders Chydenius (Finland (then a part of the Swedish realm), 1729-1803) His book Den Nationale Winsten proposed roughly same the ideas as Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, a decade earlier, including foundations of liberalism and capitalism and (roughly) the invisible hand. He demanded complete economic and individual freedom, including the freedom of religion (although he was a priest), worker's rights to freely move and choose their professions and employers, the freedom of speech and trade and abolitions of all privileges and price and wage controls.

He was also a successful politician, his achievements include the freedom of the press in Sweden.

• Some literature:
  • Americanska Näfwerbåtar, 1753 (American birchbark canoes)
  • Källan Til Rikets Wan-Magt, 1765 (The cause of the weakness of the Kingdom)
  • Den Nationnale Winsten, 1765 (The National Gain) [5])

[modifier] Adam Smith

Adam Smith (United Kingdom, 1723-1790)

• Some literature:
  • An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776 [6]
  • The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759

[modifier] William Blackstone

Sir William Blackstone (United Kingdom 1723-1780)

• Some literature:
  • Commentaries on the Laws of England

[modifier] Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant (Germany, 1724-1804)

• Some literature:
  • Grundlegung zur Metaphysik der Sitten, 1785 (Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysic of Morals[7])
  • Kritik der praktischen Vernunft, 1788 (Critique of Practical Reason [8])
  • Über den Gemeinspruch: Das mag in der Theorie richtig sein, taugt aber nicht für die Praxis, 1793 (On the common saying: this may be true in theory but it does not apply in practice)
  • Zum ewigen Frieden, 1795 (Perpetual Peace[9])
  • Metaphysik der Sitten, 1797 (Metaphysics of Morals [10])

[modifier] Anne Robert Jacques Turgot

Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (France, 1727-1781)

• Some literature:
  • Le Conciliateur, 1754
  • Lettre sur la tolérance civile, 1754
  • Réflexions sur la formation et la distribution des richesses, 1766
  • Lettres sur la liberté du commerce des grains, 1770

[modifier] Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke (United Kingdom 1729-1797, Whig politician) contributed to liberal theory by emphasizing the importance of rationality in politics, self-interest as the basis for government and moderation against extremes. He is also considered important for his contributions to Conservatism because of his belief in respect for tradition.

• Some literature:
  • Thoughts on the Cause of the Present Discontents 1770
  • On American Taxation 1774
  • On Conciliation with the Colonies 1775
  • Speech to the Electors of Bristol 1774
  • Reflections on the Revolution in France 1790

[modifier] Joseph Priestley

Joseph Priestley (United Kingdom/United States, 1733-1804)

• Some literature:
  • Essay on the First Principles of Government, 1768
  • The Present State of Liberty in Great Britain and her Colonies, 1769
  • Remarks on Dr Blackstone's Commentaries, 1769
  • Observations on Civil Liberty and the Nature and Justice of the War with America, 1772

[modifier] August Ludwig von Schlözer

August Ludwig von Schlözer (Germany, 1735-1809)

[modifier] Patrick Henry

Patrick Henry (United States, 1736-1799)

• Some literature:
  • Liberty or Death, 1775 [11]

[modifier] Thomas Paine

Thomas Paine (United Kingdom/United States, 1737-1809)

• Some literature:
  • Rights of Man, 1791-1792 [12]

[modifier] Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson (United States, 1743-1826) was the third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence. He also wrote Notes on the State of Virginia. He was a champion of inalienable individual rights and the separation of church and state. His ideas were repeated in many other liberal revolutions around the world, including the (early) French Revolution.

[modifier] Marquis de Condorcet

Marquis de Condorcet (France, 1743-1794)

• Some literature:
  • Esquisse d'un tableau historique des progrés de l'esprit humain, 1795 (Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind)

[modifier] Jeremy Bentham

Jeremy Bentham (United Kingdom, 1748-1832) An early advocate of utilitarianism, animal welfare and women's rights. He had many students all around the world, including John Stuart Mill and several political leaders. Bentham demanded economic and individual freedom, including the separation of the state and church, freedom of expression, completely equal rights for women, the end of slavery and colonialism, uniform democracy, the abolition of physical punishment, also on children, the right for divorce, free prices, free trade and no restrictions on interest. Bentham was not a libertarian: he supported inheritance tax, restrictions on monopoly power, pensions, health insurance and other social security, but called for prudence and careful consideration in any such governmental intervention.

[modifier] Emmanuel Sieyès

Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès (France, 1748-1836)

[modifier] James Madison

James Madison (United States, 1751-1836) was co-Author, with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay of The Federalist Papers, and one of the architects of both the American Constitution of 1787, as well as the Bill of Rights (1789). Later President of the United States (1809-1817).

• Some literature:
  • Federalist Papers / Alexander Hamilton, John Jay & James Madison, 1787 [13]

[modifier] Alexander Hamilton

Alexander Hamilton (United States, 1755-1804)

• Some literature:
  • Federalist Papers / Alexander Hamilton, John Jay & James Madison, 1787 [14]

[modifier] Anne Louise Germaine de Staël

Anne Louise Germaine de Staël (France, 1766-1817)

• Some literature:
  • De l’influence des passions sur le bonheur des individus et des nations, 1796
  • Des circonstances actuelles qui peuvent terminer la Révolution et des principes qui doivent fonder la république en France, 1798
  • Considérations sur les principaux événements de la révolution française, 1813
  • Appel aux souverains réunis à Paris pour en obtenir l’abolition de la traite des nègres, 1814

[modifier] Benjamin Constant

Benjamin Constant (France, 1767-1830)

• Some literature:
  • De l'esprit de conquête et l'usurpation, 1814
  • "The Liberty of Ancients Compared with that of Moderns," 1816

[modifier] Jean-Baptiste Say

Jean-Baptiste Say (France, 1767-1832)

• Some literature:
  • Traité d'économie politique (Treatise on Political Economy), 1803

[modifier] Wilhelm von Humboldt

Wilhelm von Humboldt (Germany, 1767-1835)

• Some literature:
  • Ideen zu einem Versuch, die Grenzen der Wirksamkeit des Staats zu bestimmen (On the Limits of State Action), 1792

[modifier] David Ricardo

David Ricardo (United Kingdom, 1772-1823)

[modifier] James Mill

James Mill (United Kingdom, 1773-1836)

• Some literature:
  • Elements of Political Economy, 1821

[modifier] Frédéric Bastiat

Frédéric Bastiat (France, 1801-1850)

• Some literature:
  • La Loi (The Law), 1850
  • Harmonies économiques (Economic Harmonies), 1850
  • Ce qu'on voit et ce qu'on ne voit pas (What is Seen and What is Not Seen), 1850

[modifier] Johan Rudolf Thorbecke

The Dutch statesman Johan Rudolf Thorbecke (Netherlands, 1798-1872) was the main theorist of Dutch liberalism in the nineteenth century, outlining a more or less democratic alternative to the absolute monarchy. His main theoretical work was Over het hedendaagsche staatsburgerschap (1844). He became prime minister in 1848, thus starting numerous reforms in Dutch politics.

[modifier] Harriet Martineau

Harriet Martineau (United Kingdom, 1802-1876)

• Some literature:
  • Illustrations of Political Economy, 1832-1834
  • Theory and Practice of Society in America, 1837
  • The Martyr Age of the United States, 1839

[modifier] Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson (United States, 1803-1882) was an American philosopher who argued that the basic principles of government were mutable, and that government is required only in so far as people are not self-governing. Proponent of Democracy, and of the idea that a democratic people must have a democratic ethics.

• Some literature:
  • Self-Reliance
  • Circles
  • Politics
  • The Nominalist and the Realist

[modifier] Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville (France, 1805-1859)

• Some literature:
  • De la démocratie en Amérique, 1831-1840 (Democracy in America, [15])
  • L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution, 1856

[modifier] William Lloyd Garrison

William Lloyd Garrison (United States, 1805-1879)

• Some literature:
  • Articles advocating abolition of slavery in the newspaperThe Liberator, 1831-1866

[modifier] Friedrich Schiller

Friedrich Schiller (Germany, 1759-1805)

[modifier] Mill and further, the development of (international) liberalism

See for the somehwat different development of an American liberalism after World War II the section on American liberal theory. American liberal theorists who also had influence on liberalism outside the United States are included in this section.

[modifier] John Stuart Mill

John Stuart Mill (United Kingdom, 1806-1873) is one of the first champions of modern "liberalism." As such, his work on political economy and logic helped lay the foundation for advancements in empirical science and public policy based on verifiable improvements. Strongly influenced by Bentham's utilitarianism, he disagrees with Kant's intuitive notion of right and formulates the "highest normative principle" of morals as: Actions are right in proportion as they tend to promote happiness; wrong as they tend to produce the reverse of happiness.

Some consider Mill as the founder of Social liberalism. Although Mill was mainly for free markets, he accepted interventions in the economy, such as a tax on alcohol, if there were sufficient utilitarian grounds. Mill was also a champion of women's rights.

• Some literature:
  • On Representative Government, 1862
  • On Liberty, 1868 [16]

[modifier] Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln (United States, 1809-1865) is best known as the President of the United States from 1861-1865. He argued for the theory of political equality and the supremacy of natural law over present political arrangements. Most famous for his debates with Stephen Douglas, Cooper Union speech on Congress's right to ban slavery from US territories, Second Inaugural Address and Gettysburg Address, as well as the Emancipation Proclamation - which converted the American Civil War into a struggle to end slavery.

[modifier] Juan Bautista Alberdi

Juan Bautista Alberdi (Argentina, 1810-1884)

• Some literature:
  • Bases y puntos de partida para la organización política de la República Argentina (Bases and Points of Departure for the Political Organization of the Argentine Republic), 1852
  • Sistema económico y rentistico de la Confederación Argentina, según su Constitución de 1853 (Economic and rentistic system of the Argentine Confederation, according to its 1853 Constitution), 1854

[modifier] Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

• Some literature:
  • Civil Disobedience
  • Walden

[modifier] Jacob Burckhardt

Jacob Burckhardt (Switzerland, 1818-1897) State as derived from cultural and economic life

• Some literature:
  • The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy

[modifier] Herbert Spencer

Herbert Spencer (United Kingdom, 1820-1903) was an agitator against the newer forms of liberalism espoused by Mills or Bentham. He wanted a smaller state that was only concerned with the defense of persons and property rights. For Spencer, voluntary cooperation was the way for humans to live peacefully together.

• Some literature:
  • Social Statics, 1851
  • First Principles, 1862
  • The Man versus the State, 1884
  • Essays, Scientific, Political and Speculative, 1892

[modifier] Thomas Hill Green

Thomas Hill Green (United Kingdom, 1836-1882)

[modifier] Carl Menger

Carl Menger (Austria, 1840-1921)

• Some literature:
  • Grundsätze der Volkswirtschaftslehre (Principles of Economics), 1871
  • Untersuchungen über die Methode der Sozialwissenschaften und der Politischen Ökonomie insbesondere (Investigations into the Method of the Social Sciences: with special reference to economics), 1883
  • Irrthumer des Historismus in der deutschen Nationalokonomie (The Errors of Historicism in German Economics), 1884
  • Zur Theorie des Kapitals (The Theory of Capital), 1888

[modifier] William Graham Sumner

William Graham Sumner (United States, 1840-1910)

• Some literature:
  • Socialism, 1878
  • The Argument Against Protective Tariffs, 1881
  • Protective Taxes and Wages, 1883
  • The Absurd Effort to Make the World Over, 1883
  • State Interference, 1887
  • Protectionism: the -ism which teaches that waste makes wealth, 1887
  • The Forgotten Man, and Other Essays, 1917

[modifier] Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (United States, 1841-1935) was a jurist and writer. He wrote the influential book on legal theory The Common Law, which traced the creation of individual rights from familial rights common under Roman and Feudal law, and presented the "objective" theory of judicial interpretation. Specifically that the standard for intent and culpability should be that of the "reasonable man", and that individuals can be said to objectively intend the reasonable consequences of their actions.

[modifier] Lujo Brentano

Ludwig Joseph Brentano (Germany, 1844-1931)

[modifier] Tomáš Masaryk

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk (Czechoslovakia, 1850-1937)

[modifier] Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk

Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk (Austria, 1851-1914)

• Some literature:
  • Kapital und Kapitalzins (Capital and Interest), in three volumes, 1884, 1889 and 1909
  • Die Positive Theorie des Kapitals (The positive theory of capital and its critics), in three volumes, 1895 and 1896
  • Zum Abschluss des Marxschen Systems (Karl Marx and the Close of his system),1898

[modifier] Louis Brandeis

Louis Brandeis (1856-1941)

[modifier] Thorstein Veblen

Thorstein Veblen (1857-1926) is best known as the author of Theory of the Leisure Class. Veblen was influential to a generation of American liberalism searching for a rational basis for the economy beyond corporate consolidation and "cut throat competition". Veblen's central argument was that individuals require sufficient non-economic time to become educated citizens. He caustically attacked pure material consumption for its own sake, and the idea that utility equalled conspicuous consumption.

[modifier] John Dewey

John Dewey (United States, 1859-1952)

• Some literature:
  • Liberalism and Social Action, 1935
  • Democracy and Education [17]

[modifier] Friedrich Naumann

Friedrich Naumann (Germany, 1860-1919)

[modifier] Max Weber

Max Weber (Germany, 1864-1920) was a theorist of state power and the relationship of culture to economics. Argued that there was a moral component to capitalism rooted in "protestant" values. Weber was along with Friedrich Naumann active in the National Social Union and later in the German Democratic Party.

• Some literature:
  • Die protestantische Ethik und der 'Geist' des Kapitalismus,1904 (The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism [18])

[modifier] Leonard Hobhouse

Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse (United Kingdom, 1864-1929)

• Some literature:
  • Liberalism, 1911 [19]

[modifier] Benedetto Croce

Benedetto Croce (Italy, 1866-1952)

• Some literature:
  • Che cosa è il liberalismo, 1943

[modifier] Walther Rathenau

Walther Rathenau (Germany, 1867-1922)

[modifier] William Beveridge

William Beveridge (United Kingdom, 1879-1963)

• Some literature:
  • Full Employment in a Free Society, 1944
  • Why I am a liberal, 1945

[modifier] Ludwig von Mises

Ludwig von Mises (Austria/United States, 1881-1973)

• Some literature:
  • Socialisme, 1922
  • Libéralisme, 1927
  • Human Action, 1949

[modifier] John Maynard Keynes

The economist John Maynard Keynes (United Kingdom, 1883-1946) is best known for his work on monetary theory and macroeconomics, which was an attempt to restructure private sector capitalist economies in the wake of the lessons of World War I and The Great Depression. He proposed policies which included short term intervention in the market, statistical econometrics as an important instrument of social policy, and an active use of government power. He was sharply critical of using economics for purely nationalist goals, or economic punishment as a means of attaining political ends. He opposed the introduction of the Bretton-Woods system, after World War II, arguing instead for an alternative system called the International Clearing Union. Keynes was an active member of the British Liberal Party.

• Some literature:
  • The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money, 1936 [20]
  • The Economic Consequences of the Peace

[modifier] José Ortega y Gasset

José Ortega y Gasset (Spain, 1883-1955)

• Some literature:
  • La rebelión de las masas (The Rebellion of the Masses), 1930

[modifier] Salvador de Madariaga

Salvador de Madariaga (Spain, 1886-1978)

[modifier] Upton Sinclair

While Upton Sinclair (United States, 1878-1968) himself was a socialist, his novels and writings attacking the excesses of corporations and industrialization, particularly The Jungle would have a tremendous influence towards persuading the public and political classes that regulation of products and labor standards was essential.

[modifier] Will Durant

Will Durant 1885-1981 with Ariel Durant 1898-1981

• Some literature:
  • The Story of Philosophy, 1926
  • The Story of Civilization (published in eleven volumes), 1935-1975

[modifier] Adolf Berle

Adolf Berle (United States, 1895-1971) was author of The Modern Corporation and Private Property, detailing the importance of differentiating between the management of corporations and the share holders who are the owners. Influential in the theory of New Deal policy.

• Some literature with Gardiner Means:
  • The Modern Corporation and Private Property

[modifier] Wilhelm Röpke

Wilhelm Röpke (Germany, 1899-1966)

• Some literature:
  • International Economic Disintegration, 1942
  • The Social Crisis of Our Time, 1942
  • Civitas Humana, 1944
  • International Order and Economic Integration, 1945
  • The Solution of the German Problem, 1946

[modifier] Bertil Ohlin

Bertil Ohlin (Sweden, 1899-1979)

• Some literature:
  • Interregional and International Trade, 1933

[modifier] Friedrich Hayek

Friedrich Hayek (Austria/United Kingdom/United States/Germany, 1899-1992) In Hayek's view, the central role of the state should be to maintain the rule of law, with as little arbitrary intervention as possible.

• Some literature:
  • The Road to Serfdom, 1944 [21]
  • The Constitution of Liberty, 1960
  • Law, Legislation and Liberty, in three volumes, 1973, 1976 and 1979

[modifier] Karl Popper

Karl Raimund Popper (Austria/United Kingdom, 1902-1994) developed the idea of the open society, characterized by respect for a wide variety of opinions and behaviors and a preference for audacious but piecemeal political reform over either conservative stasis or revolutionary utopianism. In his view, all overly simplistic and grand theories of history and society shared a common feature he called historicism, which he traces back to Plato, while the open society mirrors the methodological fallibilism pioneered by Popper in his earlier works on philosophy of science.

• Some literature:
  • The Open Society and Its Enemies, 1945
  • The Poverty of Historicism, 1961

[modifier] Alan Paton

Alan Paton (South Africa, 1903-1988) contributed with his book Cry, The beloved country to a clear anti-apartheid stand of South African liberalism. His party, the South African Liberal Party was banned by the apartheid government.

• Some literature:
  • Cry, The Beloved Country, 1948

[modifier] John Hicks

John Hicks (United Kingdom, 1904-1989) is known for his work in macro-economics and social choice theory. His macro-economic work produced the IS-LM model of macro-economics, which would be the basis for much theory since then, including the work of Paul Krugman and Robert Mundell. In the area of social choice he argued for the necessity of placing freedom of choice in balance against social welfare to produce the best practical outcomes.

[modifier] Raymond Aron

Raymond Aron (France, 1905-1983)

• Oeuvres:
  • Essais sur les libertés, 1965
  • Démocratie et totalitarisme, 1965

[modifier] Simone de Beauvoir

Simone de Beauvoir (France 1908-1986) argued in her book The Second Sex that women were treated as legal and social inferiors, and that this was morally untenable. She was influential in the Women's Liberation movement.

• Some literature:
  • The Second Sex

[modifier] John Kenneth Galbraith

John Kenneth Galbraith (Canadian-born Economist who worked in the United States, 1908-2006)

• Some literature:
  • The Affluent Society, 1958
  • The Liberal Hour, 1960

[modifier] Isaiah Berlin

Isaiah Berlin (Latvia/United Kingdom, 1909-1997) is most famous for his attempt to distinguish 'two conceptions of liberty'. Berlin argued that what he called 'positive' and 'negative' liberty were mutually opposing concepts. Positive conceptions assumed that liberty could only be achieved when collective power (in the form of church or state) acted to 'liberate' mankind from its worst aspects. These, Berlin felt, tended towards totalitarianism. Negative conceptions, by contrast, argued that liberty was achieved when individuals were given maximal freedom from external constraints (so long as these did not impinge on the freedom of others to achieve the same condition). Berlin was also a critic of dogmatic Enlightenment rationalism on the grounds that it was unable to accommodate value pluralism.

• Some literature:
  • Two Concepts of Liberty, 1958
  • Four Essays on Liberty, 1969
  • From Hope and Fear Set Free, 1978

[modifier] Milton Friedman

While classified otherwise by those who preferred to define liberalism in a more narrowly 20th-century American way, Friedman thought of himself as a liberal and always opposed being classified as a "conservative economist." While Friedman held deep beliefs about liberty as a moral principle, as an economist he believed in empirical testing of scientific hypotheses, and his scholarly contributions often took the form of thorough economic analysis of adverse the consequences of state interference.

Milton Friedman (United States, 1912-2006)

• Some literature:
  • Capitalism and Freedom, 1962
  • Free to Choose, 1980
  • Tyranny of the Status quo, 1984
  • Economic Freedom, Human Freedom, Political Freedom, 1992

[modifier] Arthur Schlesinger Jr.

Arthur Schlesinger Jr. (United States, 1917- ) is an historian and philosopher of history, who chronicled the presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and theorized on the importance of progressive moments in advancing liberalism.

• Some literature:
  • The Age of Roosevelt
  • The Cycles in American History

[modifier] James Buchanan

James Buchanan (United States, 1919- ) is known for his economic theories of the political process, which were among the first to take seriously the concept of politicians as rational actors that respond to incentives.

• Some literature:
  • The Calculus of Consent / James Buchanan & Gordon Tullock, 1962
  • The Limits of Liberty, 1975
  • Democracy in Deficit / James Buchanan & Richard E. Wagner, 1977
  • The Power to Tax / James Buchanan & Geoffrey Brennan, 1980
  • The Reason of Rules / James Buchanan & Geoffrey Brennan, 1985

[modifier] John Rawls

John Rawls (United States, 1921-2002), was a social liberal.

• Some literature:
  • A Theory of Justice, 1972
  • Political Liberalism, 1996
  • The Law of Nations

[modifier] Murray Newton Rothbard

Murray Rothbard (United States, 1926-1995) was polemist of anarcho-capitalist politics and an economist of the Austrian school. He is considered by many one of the foremost advocators of liberty and freedom in the late 20th Century. His polemics brought him into various political movements movements throughout his life, notably with Ayn Rand and, later, the Libertarian Party of United States. His influence is still lasting in the libertarian and anarcho-capitalist movements.

[modifier] Ralf Dahrendorf

Ralf Dahrendorf (Germany/United Kingdom, 1929- )

• Some literature:
  • Die Chancen der Krise: über die Zukunft des Liberalismus, 1983
  • Fragmente eines neuen Liberalismus, 1987

[modifier] Karl-Hermann Flach

The journalist Karl-Hermann Flach (Germany, 1929-1973) was in his book Noch eine Chance für die Liberalen one of the main theorist of the new social liberal principles of the Free Democratic Party (Germany). He places liberalism clearly as the opposite of conservatism and opened the road for a government coalition with the social democrats.

[modifier] Joseph Raz

Joseph Raz (United Kingdom)

• Some literature:
  • The Morality of Freedom

[modifier] Ronald Dworkin

Ronald Dworkin (United States, 1931- )

[modifier] Richard Rorty

Richard Rorty (United States, 1931- ) is one of the leading contemporary philosophers of liberalism. His fundamental claims, among others, are that liberalism is best defined as the attempt to avoid cruelty to others; that liberals need to accept the historical 'irony' that there is no metaphysical justification for their belief that not being cruel is a virtue; that literature plays a crucial role in developing the empathy necessary to promote solidarity (and therefore lack of cruelty) between humans; and that private philosophising and public political discourse are separate practices and should remain so.

[modifier] Amartya Sen

Amartya Sen (India, 1933- ) is an economist whose early work was based on Kenneth Arrow's General Possibility Theorem, and on the impossibility of both complete pareto optimality and solely procedural based rights. Won Bank of Sweden Prize in Economic Sciences for his work on famine, welfare economics and social choice theory. Advocate of rationality as the fundamental safe guard of freedom and justice.

• Some literature:
  • Development as Freedom

[modifier] Robert Nozick

Robert Nozick (United States, 1938-2002) was a libertarian (or minarchist). He advocated an unapologetically reductionist political philosophy characterized by meticulous analysis of the moral aspects of each social interaction, and did not shy away from addressing hard philosophical issues such as the original appropriation of property. Nozick is best know for providing the justification of a minimal state by showing that it can established without any unjust steps.

• Some literature:
  • Anarchy, State, and Utopia, 1974

[modifier] Hernando de Soto

The economist Hernando de Soto (Peru, 1941- ) is an advocate of transparency and private property rights, arguing that intransparent government leads to property not being given proper title, and therefore being "dead capital" which cannot be used as the basis of credit. Argues that laws which allocate property to those most able to use them for economic growth, so called "squatter's rights", are an important innovation.

• Some literature:
  • The Other Path, 1986
  • The Mystery of Capital, 2000

[modifier] Bruce Ackerman

Bruce Ackerman (United States)

• Some literature:
  • We, The People

[modifier] Joseph Stiglitz

The economist Joseph Stiglitz was awarded a Nobel Prize for his work on market failures caused by imperfect information. While this work is rather dry to a non-economist it demonstrates how states can give great benefits to their populations with a light hand and avoid socialist policies like nationalisation. He is best known politically for his work first as an adviser to international institutions like the World Trade Organisation, and then as a commentator supportive of their principles but critical of their practices. (United States, 1943- )

• Some literature
  • Globalization and its Discontents
  • Making Globalization Work

[modifier] Martha Nussbaum

Martha Nussbaum (United States, 1947-present) elaborates the Rawlsian Theory of Justice. For her, Rawls's Liberty Principle is only meaningful if viewed in terms of substantial freedoms, i.e. real opportunities based on personal and social circumstance. Likewise, inequality in the Difference Principle has to be clarified in terms of capabilities.

[modifier] Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama (Etats-Unis, 1952- ) Fukuyama est connu comme le théoricien de la fin de l'histoire: Il y considère qu'avec la chute de l'URSS la démocratie libérale a remporté de façon durable l'hégémonie. Beaucoup considèrent que Fukuyama est néo conservateur et non libéral.

[modifier] Dirk Verhofstadt

In his book Het menselijk liberalisme Dirk Verhofstadt (Belgium, 1955- ) outlines a social liberal response to anti-globalism. Dirk Verhofstadt is brother of Belgian prime minister Guy Verhofstadt, member of the Flemish Liberals and Democrats and of Liberales, an independent think tank within the liberal movement. Its members consider liberalism as a progressive movement supporting individual freedom, justice and human rights. Liberales reacts against narrow minded conservatism related to social economic, ecological and ethical issues supported by compartmentalized parties and structures.

• Some literature:
  • Het einde van het BRT-monopolie, 1982
  • Het menselijk liberalisme. Een antwoord op het antiglobalisme, 2002
  • Pleidooi voor individualisme, 2004
  • De derde feministische golf, 2006

[modifier] Will Kymlicka

Will Kymlicka (Canada, 1962- ) tries in his philosophy to determine if forms of ethnic or minority nationalism are compatible with liberal-democratic principles of individual freedom, social equality and political democracy. In his book Multicultural Citizenship. A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights he argues that certain "collective rights" of minority cultures can be consistent with these liberal-democratic principles.

[modifier] Voir aussi

• Liberalisme