|
|
|
|
A Journal for Western Man |
|
|
How John Dewey and the "Progressives" Redefined the Meaning of "Liberalism" G. Stolyarov II Issue CIV - June 9, 2007 |
----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- Mr. Stolyarov's Articles on Helium.com ----------------------------------- Mr. Stolyarov's Articles on Associated Content ----------------------------------- Mr. Stolyarov's Articles on GrasstopsUSA.com ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- -----------------------------------
|
|
In The Future of Liberalism (1934), John Dewey co-opted the name “liberalism” to describe an ideology that was actually “progressive.” Dewey described the “old liberalism” as committed to protecting the individual’s rights of free speech, religion, private property, and government economic non-intervention; Dewey considers the “old liberalism” to have lacked the principle of “historic relativity”; this “deficiency” led the “old liberals” to declare their principles immutable natural laws and advocate as an eternal truth the confinement of government to protecting against the infringement of the individual’s liberty to action on the part of the others. Dewey does not share the “old liberals’” belief in the “individual as something given, complete in itself, of liberty as a ready-made possession of the individual, only needing the removal of external restrictions to manifest itself.” Rather he claims that this belief has degenerated into “pseudo-liberalism” or the advocacy of a laissez-faire economy and limited government that he opposed in his own day. Dewey’s “new liberalism,” i.e., progressivism, holds that the individual is “something achieved with the air and support of cultural, physical, economic, legal, and political institutions.” The role of government according to progressivism is not merely to remove active violations of the individual’s freedom but to promote and cultivate positive institutions to assist in the development of individuality. Furthermore, Dewey believes that progressivism is committed to the idea of historic relativity and holds that “the content of the individual and freedom change with time; this is as true of social as of individual development.” In this way, progressivism departs from the Founders’ understanding of fixed self-evident moral principles—such as those expressed in the Declaration of Independence—which hold true for all men in all times and places; rather, progressivism adheres to evolving standards of justice, the proper role of government, and the individual itself. The “ends” of Dewey’s progressivism are claimed to be the “full freedom of the human spirit and of individuality,” which entails “full cultural freedom” to share in “the resources of civilization”—an extremely broad aspiration whose content changes and evolves with the times. Dewey’s appropriation of the term “liberalism” to mean advocacy of extensive government intervention in the economy completely reversed that term’s prior meaning. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, liberalism stood for limited government, free enterprise, and the sovereignty of the individual in all areas regarding his own life. It is time to return to that ideal and expose “new liberalism” for an unjustified name at the least; while the old liberalism truly empowered and liberated the individual, the “new liberalism” shackles him under an ever-amassing array of state controls. G. Stolyarov II is a science fiction novelist, independent philosophical essayist, poet, amateur mathematician, composer, contributor to Enter Stage Right, Le Quebecois Libre, Rebirth of Reason, and the Ludwig von Mises Institute, Senior Writer for The Liberal Institute, weekly columnist for GrasstopsUSA.com, and Editor-in-Chief of The Rational Argumentator, a magazine championing the principles of reason, rights, and progress. Mr. Stolyarov also publishes his articles on Helium.com and Associated Content to assist the spread of rational ideas. His newest science fiction novel is Eden against the Colossus. His latest non-fiction treatise is A Rational Cosmology. His most recent play is Implied Consent. Mr. Stolyarov can be contacted at gennadystolyarovii@yahoo.com. This TRA feature has been edited in accordance with TRA’s Statement of Policy. Click here to return to TRA's Issue CIV Index. Learn about Mr. Stolyarov's novel, Eden against the Colossus, here..Read Mr. Stolyarov's new comprehensive treatise, A Rational Cosmology, explicating such terms as the universe, matter, space, time, sound, light, life, consciousness, and volition, here .
|
|
