Overview

Restoring the ideas and ideals of classical liberalism, this collection shows how its contemporary exponents defend such pillars of free societies as individual rights, human dignity, market processes, and the rule of law. The quest for freedom has always been as much a battle of ideas as it is a popular struggle. Classical liberal pioneers such as John Locke and Adam Smith stressed the inherent worth of the individual, inalienable rights, and the benevolent consequences of the cooperative, peaceful pursuit of one's own happiness. These ideas became the intellectual scaffolding for much of the West's most fundamental institutions and achievements. Yet after its 19th-century high-water mark, classical liberalism lost much of its passion, focus, and popular support. Intellectual trends increasingly began to support coercive egalitarianism, empire, and central planning at the expense of individual liberty, personal responsibility, private property, natural law, and free institutions. Yet this book indicates that the eclipse of classical liberalism by contemporary liberalism and conservatism is passing.

Full Product Details

9781598130027

Table of Contents

Reviews

""The Challenge of Liberty follows the best tradition of classical liberal thought and, in its effort to update the premises of classical liberalism, challenges with solid arguments many of the myths of our times.""--Mario Vargas Llosa, author, The Time of the Hero, The War of the End of the World, and A Fish in Water ""The Challenge of Liberty is a big and very comprehensive book, which deserves the attention of a wide swath of scholars. This would include, on the one hand, a scrupulously careful re-examination of the intellectual roots of Western political and economic institutions, beginning mainly with the seminal writings of John Locke and Adam Smith. As if that were not enough, the second half of the book focuses on present-day policy concerns and the relevance of Classical Liberalism Today (the book's subtitle). Many of these concerns center, not surprisingly, upon the coercive powers of that modern Leviathan of large government bureaucracies. The 16 authors who contributed to this volume have maintained consistently high standards of scholarship, as well as a refreshing capacity to provoke readers into a reconsideration of long-held views.""--Nathan Rosenberg, Fairleigh S. Dickinson, Jr., Professor of Public Policy (Emeritus), Stanford University ""The Challenge of Liberty is an ambitious and persuasive effort to demonstrate the relevance of classical liberal doctrine to modern times. This liberal doctrine has little in common with what passes for 'liberalism' in the contemporary political discourse.""--Richard E. Pipes, Baird Professor of History Emeritus, Harvard University ""Classical liberal thought centers on the understanding of the separate and fundamental importance of each individual. This insight underwrites the basis for individual rights, private property, voluntary association, spontaneous social and economic order, and radical limits on the role of any coercive institution. The marvelous book, Challenge of Liberty, now provides probing and illuminating examinations of the nature of the case for liberty and of its standing in the present intellectual world and the prospects for its future influence.""--Eric Mack, Professor of Philosophy, Tulane University ""The continuing vitality and relevance of the classical liberal tradition is on ample display in The Challenge of Liberty, the excellent book edited by Robert Higgs and Carl Close. The voices are fresh, insightful, and on occasion, provocative. The book is an ideal entree to recent debates and discussions that have taken place both within the tradition and with those who oppose it.""--Bruce J. Caldwell, Professor of Economics, University of North Carolina, Greensboro ""This splendid book by some of today's greatest thinkers, examines the state of classical liberal ideas in the modern world. Applying the ideas of Locke and Smith to questions of defense, health, education, and commerce, The Challenge of Liberty will be most helpful in restoring the ideas and ideals of true (i.e., classical) liberalism as the intellectual and cultural roots of free societies regarding individual rights, human dignity, market processes, and the rule of law.""--Alex Kozinski, Judge, U. S. Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit

Author Information

Robert Higgs is senior fellow at the Independent Institute and editor of their quarterly journal The Independent Review. Carl P. Close is director of academic affairs at the Independent Institute and assistant editor of The Independent Review.

Tab Content 6

Countries Available