Publication Details
On Historical Sources of Liberalism – Between Political Ideology and Philosophical Concepts
Abstract
The ideology of liberalism is not a closed intellectual space where inspiration can no longer be found. Based on a comparison of three philosophers – Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and their approaches to the key concepts of freedom, autonomy and property, the article explains the context of the historical evolution of liberalism in its early stages. The aim of the article is to show that liberalism does not have just one understanding of these concepts. In the context of this statement, we consider it as necessary to reconsider the traditional view of liberalism as an ideology that promotes laissez-faire policy and does not seek to actively counter social inequalities or to some extent interfere with the freedom and property rights of individuals.
Contractualism, Despotism, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Liberalism, Thomas Hobbes