Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama

Francis Fukuyama has a new book out and has an essay on liberalism which is really just an excerpt of the book. In the next couple of days I'll put out some of his observations on the origin/rationale of liberalism

First, a summary of the three moving forces of liberalism.

"There have been three essential justifications for liberal societies that have been put forward over the centuries. The first is a pragmatic rationale: liberalism is a way of regulating violence and allowing diverse populations to live peacefully with one another. The second is moral: liberalism protects basic human dignity, and in particular human autonomy—the ability of each individual to make choices. The final justification is economic: liberalism promotes economic growth and all the good things that come from growth, by protecting property rights and the freedom to transact.

Liberalism has a strong association with certain forms of cognition, particularly the scientific method, which is seen as the best means of understanding and manipulating the external world. Individuals are assumed to be the best judges of their own interests, and are able to take in and test empirical information about the outside world in the making of those judgments. While judgments will necessarily vary, there is a liberal belief that in a free marketplace of ideas, good ideas will in the end drive out bad ones through deliberation and evidence."