2. Concepts and Terms

Foundations of Liberalism Concepts and Terms

Unit Question: How did liberalism originate?

Issue Question: To what extent is resistance to liberalism justified?

In this unit, you will explore the following big ideas based on questions arising from the issue question:

  1. What is classical liberalism?
  2. What ideas about the nature of human beings influenced classical liberalism?
  3. What was the impact of classical liberalism?

   This is a list of new terms you will encounter in this unit.

 
classical liberalism
competition
constitution
direct democracy
divine right of kings
enlightenment
fascism
free market
Great Law of Peace
invisible hand
humanism
laissez-faire capitalism
Magna Carta
progressivism
mercantilism
rule of law
self-interest
social contract
tyranny of the majority
 

People Make History!  Especially these thinkers who contributed to Classical Liberal thought:

Adam Smith 
Baron de Montesquieu 
Jean Jacques Rousseau 
John Locke 
John Stuart Mill 
Thomas Hobbes