{"id":1350,"date":"2022-04-19T09:21:38","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T22:21:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/?p=1350"},"modified":"2026-04-08T06:16:47","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T20:16:47","slug":"the-multi-dimensionality-of-classical-liberalism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/the-multi-dimensionality-of-classical-liberalism\/","title":{"rendered":"The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[<strong>Note<\/strong>: This post is part of a <a href=\"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/the-classical-liberal-tradition-a-four-hundred-year-history-of-ideas-and-movements\/\">series<\/a> on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition]<\/p>\n<p>[See also another post on  \u201cPlotting Liberty: The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism and the Need for a New \u2018Left-Right\u2019 Political Spectrum\u201d (17 April, 2022) <a href=\"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/left-or-right-radical-or-conservative-free-or-unfree-the-problem-of-measuring-freedom-in-an-unfree-world\/\">here<\/a>.]<\/p>\n<p>Another aspect to consider is the multi-dimensional nature of liberalism. The one dimensional political spectrum with two end points of total liberty at one end and total state power is better than the traditional \u201cleft-right\u201d spectrum which hides this important feature, but it too has its limitations. As Bastiat and others recognized in the mid-19th century, liberty could take many forms or dimensions, and that \u201ctrue liberty\u201d was the sum of all these different forms freedom might take. To simplify matters, one could limit the analysis to just three dimensions which would include \u201cpolitical\u201d freedoms (like freedom of speech, assembly, rule of law, constitutional limits on the power of the state, representative government, and so on), \u201csocial\u201d freedoms (such as all kinds of voluntary and cooperative activity, freedom of religion, marriage, drug-use, behaviour, dress), and of course \u201ceconomic\u201d freedoms (such as free trade, choosing one\u2019s career, property rights, free markets, freedom\/protection of contracts, free market pricing).<\/p>\n<p>More specifically:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>political\/legal freedoms<\/li>\n<li>economic freedoms<\/li>\n<li>social\/individual freedoms<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>(One might have \u201clegal freedoms\u201d as the 4th dimension, but I have kept the list to three dimensions to make it easier to visualize.)<\/p>\n<p>Political\/Legal Freedoms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>freedom of speech and assembly (religion)<\/li>\n<li>constitutional limits on the power of the state<\/li>\n<li>representative government<\/li>\n<li>the rule of (just) law<\/li>\n<li>equality under the law<\/li>\n<li>protection of private property and contracts<\/li>\n<li>right to emigrate\/immigrate<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Economic Freedoms:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>free markets<\/li>\n<li>laissez-faire or minimal intervention\/regulation<\/li>\n<li>right to choose and enter a trade\/profession<\/li>\n<li>the division of labour<\/li>\n<li>free trade &amp; exchange<\/li>\n<li>free movement of capital and people<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Social\/individual Freedoms<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>all kinds of voluntary and cooperative activity (family, civil society)<\/li>\n<li>marriage<\/li>\n<li>drug-use (\u201ccapitalist acts between consenting adults\u201d (Nozick))<\/li>\n<li>religion<\/li>\n<li>toleration of different behaviour and dress<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Thus, according to this way of looking at liberalism, one could say that \u201cradical\u201d liberalism embraces all three dimensions of freedom to their maximum extent; \u201cmoderate\u201d liberalism might be strong on two out of the three dimensions, but allow for considerable restriction in one of the dimensions (such as paternalistic controls on private behavior, or tax-payer funding for unemployment benefits, or state compulsory education). Finally, what I have called \u201cersatz\u201d liberalism (\u201cfalse\u201d liberalism, or LINO liberalism, i.e. liberalism in name only) would be that form of liberalism where the restrictions in all three dimensions of liberalism are so extensive that it has been transformed into some other kind of political philosophy.<\/p>\n<p>The question then becomes how to determine the boundary line between \u201cradical\u201d and \u201cmoderate\u201d liberalism (which I consider to be forms of \u201ctrue\u201d liberalism) from the \u201cfalse\u201d liberalism. This is a mater of personal judgement perhaps.<\/p>\n<p>The various forms of \u201cersatz\u201d liberalism which have emerged since the late 19th century are in many ways like a political smorgasbord, where politicians take a little bit of economic freedom, a pinch of social freedom, and combine it with a dollop of \u201cpolitical\u201d freedom (\u201cdemocracy\u201d) and call this mixed plate \u201cliberalism\u201d. But is this \u201cliberalism\u201d in any meaningful sense of the term? How is it to be distinguished from welfare state socialism with some aspects of liberalism (usually social and political freedoms but not so much economic ones)?<\/p>\n<p>I think the boundary between the two kinds of liberalism is much easier to see from a natural rights perspective than from a utilitarian one. Utilitarian calculations of what the state should or should not do can become very blurred with no sharp and clear ways of determining where the beginning and end points are. The exceptions to the NAP can be rather numerous and open-ended which results in a blurring of the political spectrum where there is no longer a clear distinction between non-coercive voluntary activity and state- sanctioned or state initiated coercion. A natural rights perspective brings the nature of state actions into much sharper focus as the use of coercion (or its threat) against individuals (life, liberty, property) I think is a much more objective thing (though not absolute as threats can be disguised or hidden or not always immediately apparent). But the radical liberal who wants to see the NAP applied as broadly as possible (absolutely and with no exceptions??) makes no distinction between coercive actions by the state or its representatives and other private individuals. All such acts, by whomsoever committed, are immoral, criminal, and should be banned, without exception. This perhaps is the sharp distinction which separates \u201cradical\u201d liberals and all other kinds of liberals. All other kinds of liberals, from \u201cmoderate\u201d to \u201cnew\u201d or \u201cersatz\u201d allow (even require) varying degrees of state coercion as part of their political philosophy. The \u201cradical\u201d liberal does not do so. The issue for those \u201cliberals\u201d who do not want to go down the path of the \u201cradicals\u201d is to decide upon a non-arbitrary place to stop state coercion. How far does this path can one go and still remain a \u201cliberal\u201d in any meaningful sense of the word?<\/p>\n<p>This also raises the question of \u201cpracticability\u201d, is such an absolute form of liberalism even possible? or does necessity and practicability require coercive actions by the state from time to time (the moderate position), or always and constantly (the conservative and ersatz liberal) if society is to be prevented from falling apart (the conservative) or if society is to be a more just and fair one (the ersatz liberal and the socialist)?<\/p>\n<p><strong>Note<\/strong>: See also my previous posts on \u201chyphenated liberalism\u201d:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\u201c \u2018Hyphenated\u2019 Liberalism and the Problem of Definition\u201d (9 Aug. 2021)  <a href=\"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/hyphenated-liberalism-and-the-problem-of-definition\/\">here<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201cHyphenated Liberalism Part II: Utopian, Democratic, Revolutionary, and State Liberalism\u201d (12 Oct. 2021)  <a href=\"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/hyphenated-liberalism-part-ii-utopian-democratic-revolutionary-and-state-liberalism\/\">here<\/a><\/li>\n<li>\u201cThe Conservative and Revolutionary Faces of Classical Liberalism\u201d (11 Aug. 2021)  <a href=\"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/the-conservative-and-revolutionary-faces-of-classical-liberalism\/\">here<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[Note: This post is part of a series on the History of the Classical Liberal Tradition] [See also another post on \u201cPlotting Liberty: The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism and the Need for a New \u2018Left-Right\u2019 Political Spectrum\u201d (17 April, 2022) here.] Another aspect to consider is the multi-dimensional nature of liberalism. The one dimensional political &#8230; <a title=\"The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/the-multi-dimensionality-of-classical-liberalism\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Multi-Dimensionality of Classical Liberalism\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[77],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tradition"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1350"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204037,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1350\/revisions\/204037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/davidmhart.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}