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Difference Between Liberalism And Idealism

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LIBERALISM
The word liberal comes from the Latin liber, meaning free
Is associated with being open-minded and supporting freedom of speech and freedom within actions. Liberals support ideas such as democratic elections, civil rights, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, free trade and private property
IDEALISM
Idealism is a specific school of liberalism that stresses the need for states to pursue moral goals and to act ethically in the international arena. Idealists believe that behavior considered immoral on an interpersonal level is also immoral in foreign policy. Therefore, idealists argue that dishonesty, trickery, and violence should be shunned.
ORIGINS
Intellectual background of Liberalism started in the age of Enlightenment in …show more content…

He developed the then radical notion that government acquires consent from the governed which has to be constantly present for a government to remain legitimate.
Based on the social contract principle, Locke argued that there was a natural right to the liberty of conscience, which he argued must therefore remain protected from any government authority.
Locke was influenced by the liberal ideas of John Milton, who was a staunch advocate of freedom in all its forms. In his Areopagitica, Milton provided one of the first arguments for the importance of freedom of speech - "the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely according to conscience, above all liberties".

Locke also argued that when the monarch becomes a tyrant, that constituted a violation of the social contract, which bestows life, liberty, and property as a natural right. He concluded that the people have a right to overthrow a tyrant. By placing life, liberty and property as the supreme value of law and authority, Locke formulated the basis of liberalism based on social contract theory. To Locke securing the most essential amenities of life — liberty and private property among them — required the formation of a "sovereign" authority with universal

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