Related Ideas

The distinction between positive and negative rights, or between two sorts of liberty associated with these two sorts of rights, developed in the late 19th century and has continued to be part of debates within political philosophy.

Classical liberalism from John Locke to John Stuart Mill stressed the right of the individual to be free from interference from government and other individuals. The primary function of government was to prevent interference with individual rights. As a corollary, classical liberalism stressed freedom of contract. The basis for the classical view was found by different philosophers in natural rights, theology, or utility.

In the late 19th century, the Oxford philosopher Thomas Hill Green argued against complete freedom of contract. This marked a major departure from the classical view. Under the classical view, freedom of contract was sacred. Any interference was seen as interference with a negative right or liberty.

Not long after Green, the British philosopher and sociologist Leonard Hobhouse developed a set of critical ideas that were part of what is sometimes called the New Liberalism. In his book Liberalism, Hobhouse contrasted the old (or classical) and the new liberalism. The new liberalism, he said, stressed "actual" or "effective" as opposed to "merely legal" liberty. (p. 27). Hobhouse hoped to preserve what was of value in the older liberalism as part of the new liberalism. The new liberalism saw individuality as "growth" and tried to foster that growth with a new conception of individual rights. Hobhouse freely admitted that he was combining ideas from the older liberalism with socialist ideas. He hoped for what he called a "liberal socialism."

In the United States, a similar transition occurred. One of the important figures in this transition was the philosopher John Dewey. Dewey believed that the "ends" of liberalism were liberty and the opportunity to secure "full realization" of individual potentialities. He also spoke of the goal as "the effective liberty and cultural development" of individuals. See, for example, Dewey's Liberalism and Social Action.

Positive rights -- rights to resources that go beyond non-interference -- were seen by the new liberals as the best way to foster the growth of individuality and the realization of individual potential.

Along side the development of modern liberalism and its stress on positive rights, there continued to exist a classic liberal tradition represented by such writers as Friedrich Hayek and Frank Meyer. This tradition gradually acquired the label "conservative" in contrast to the new or welfare state liberalism. More recently, the philosophy of libertarianism has emerged as a modern version of classical liberalism. It advocates small government, free markets, and a broad freedom of choice with respect to life style. Robert Nozick, Jan Narveson, and Loren Lomasky are all moral philosophers who identify themselves as libertarians.

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