The Liberal Mind

by Minogue, Kenneth

• ISBN13: 9780865973084
• ISBN10: 0865973083
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-02-01
• Publisher: Liberty Fund

Summary

The Liberal Mind attempts to uncover the philosophy of liberalism and lay bare its implications. What is Man? How does he think and feel? What is the place of Reason in human affairs? How should men live? What is politics, and what is it for? Kenneth Minogue offers a brilliant and provocative exploration of liberalism in the Western world today: its roots and its influences, its present state, and its prospects in the new century. While few - especially in America - embrace the description of liberal, Minogue argues, most Americans and most Europeans behave as liberals. At least they are the heirs of what Minogue describes as "the triumph of an enlarged, flexible, and pragmatic version of liberalism." The past two centuries have been characterized, in the West at least, by "the fury of old ideological battles... such as: A planned economy, or free enterprise? Individual thrift, or social services? Free trade, or protection?" These battles have largely been completed -- and, many would say, have been won by the champions of, respectively, free enterprise, individual thrift, and free trade.

Table of Contents

Preface to the Liberty Fund Edition	vii
Preface	xiii
ONT INTRODUCTION
Suffering Situations	1	(11)
Is Liberalism an Ideology?	12	(5)
TWO THE ANATOMY OF LIBERALISM
A Philosophy of Desiring	17	(5)
The Commands of Reason	22	(9)
The Uses of Calculation	31	(9)
The Puritan Contribution	40	(6)
The Structure of Generic Man	46	(8)
Tradition and the Two Liberalisms	54	(7)
THREE ETHICS AND POLITICS
Moral Experience	61	(9)
The Illusion of Ultimate Agreement	70	(9)
Politics and Technique	79	(12)
FOUR MORAL AND POLITICAL EVASIONS
The Doctrine of Needs	91	(8)
The Lure of the Positive Approach	99	(9)
How to Make Trends and Influence People	108	(7)
Scientific Moralism	115	(8)
FIVE SOCIETY AND ITS VARIATIONS
Society as an Aspiration	123	(8)
The Uses of Society	131	(6)
Education and Society	137	(8)
SIX FREEDOM
Freedom as a Manner of Living	145	(10)
Freedom and Spontaneity	155	(4)
Public Provision and Moral Protection	159	(7)
SEVEN CONCLUSION
The Moral Character of Liberalism	166	(9)
The Balance of Liberalism	175	(6)
Index	181