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Classical Liberalism

TitleClassical Liberalism
# of Words857
# of Pages (250 words per page double spaced)3.43

Classical Liberalism




Classical Liberalism


        Classical liberalism was the dominant ideology of capitalism during the
periods of eighteenth century.  It view was widely accepted.  It said that
government should just sit back and watch business so they do not cheat the
government also to enforce contracts. The classical had many creeds they were
Psychological,  economic,  and  ,political.  Each view has its own points.  In
this paper I will discuss those points and show you how Bob Dole is a classical
liberalist.
        Psychological creed of classical liberalism is based on four assumptions
of human nature.  People were believed to be egoistic, coldly calculating,
essential inert, and atomistic.  Hobbes a economics argued that people were
motivated by the desire for pleasure and to avoid pain. Jeremy Bentham believed
pleasure differ in intensity but there was no qualitative difference.  He argued
that "quality of pleasure being equal, to a pushpin is as good as poetry," The
theory he is trying to say about human motivation is that the we are lazy and
selfish
        A big  part of classical liberalism is that we are coldly calculating.
Being coldly calculating means that when a situation comes about we dissever
what will make us receive less pain and more pleasure. Although the human
motivation is by pleasure it is the decision that are cold, selfish,
dispassionate, and rational assessment of the situation to choose how to avoid
the pain and receive the pleasure.  The emphasis on the importance of rational
measurement of pleasure and pains that forms the calculating intellectual side
of the classical liberal's of psychology.
        Classical liberalism tells us that if the individuals saw there was no
chance of pleasure or feared no pain, then they would be inert, motionless, or
in simpler terms. Just plain lazy.  Any type of extra work is consider painful
therefore would not been done unless someone were to promise them greater
pleasure then the pain.  This thinking of the human race being lazy came about
in the 1700 to 1770 in England where people only worked because of the fear of
hunger.  The Reverend Joseph Townsend put this view very succinctly: " Hunger is
not only peaceable, silent and unremitted pressure, but, as the most natural
motive to industry and labor, it calls forth the most powerful exertions."
Towsend believed that "only the experience of hunger would goad them to labor"
        The last view of classical liberalism is atomistic. The view of atomism
is that the individual was a more fundamental reality than the group or society.
The classical liberals rejected the views of Christian paternalist ethic which
was that the society is like a family and the relationships that made up that
society was more important t...This is ONLY a preview of the article. If you would like to view the entire document, you must subscribe to Electronic References. Please register below now!

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