What is liberal?
The term ‘liberalism’ has to my mind at least two different sets of connotations.
(a) as political epistemology
Here liberalism (the philosophy of states like, say, the United Kingdom) is the antidote to totalitarianism (Bolshevism, National Socialism, Islamism etc…). Let me put it in form of a table.
| Liberalism | Totalitarianism | |
|---|---|---|
| primacy | individual | collective |
| aspiration | freedom | social engineering |
| method | trial and error | ideology |
| attitude | scepticism | certitude |
| preference | encourages democracy | shuns democracy |
| strategy | a step at a time | grand design |
(b) as practical ‘attitude’
Here liberalism is a certain way of doing things – even ordinary things. Let me put this too in form of a table.
| dynamic | static | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| liberal | +look +leap | +look -leap | conservative |
| radical | -look +leap | -look -leap | orthodox |
Liberal := look before you leap (go for change, but with judgement). Conservative := look but better not leap (lest change make matters worse). Radical := do not look(suspend judgement); just leap (full of conviction). Orthodox := do not do either; (a static world is better than a world unpredictable).
The over-arching quality here is:
+ scepticism + will = liberal
+ scepticism – will = conservative
- scepticism + will = radical
- scepticism – will = orthodox