Alcala 1958

What

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is a Liberal? By WILLI AM A . NO LA N, Ph .D . Ph ilo soph yDep artm en t Co lle ge fo r Men ral.? I . N, . . i s phy art ent ge l

FR.

T IE SUBTLYCORROS IVEinfl u­ enc e ofCommun istind oct rin atio n upo n the mi nds of tho se who liv e wit h no cer tai nti esand who have no sett led ,wel l-fo undedvie w of lif e ma y in the end pro ve fa r mo re des tru cti veof the Un ite dSta tes than sab ota geby an arm y of pro fes sionalrev olu tionar ies. Si nce the title that thes e vic tim s ofSo vie t exploit ati onval ue mo st is "L ibe ral ,"it is nec ess ary to con sid er pr eci sely what thi s hi gh ly est eem ed—tho ughmu ch abused—- wor dme ans . It is nec ess aryto draw a cle ar dis tin cti on betwe en thos e forms of liber ­ alis m that are mo ral ly good an d thos e that are mo rall ybad . Th e ancien t Greeks dis tin gu ish ed bet wee n the libe ral and theser vil eart s. Lib era larts we re tho se wh ich fre e men pur sue d, suc h as phi losophyan d poli tic s.Serv ilearts were as sig ne dto the ca re of sla ves. Lat er, in the da ys of Roman gre atness ,many well- edu­ cat ed sla ves engage d in the libe ral arts . Nev ert hel ess ,the ba sic eleme nt in the con­ cep t of "li be ral "sur viv ed, sin ce who eve r engage din the lib era l art s had to be free from some thi ng —in thi s ca se , from the ne ces sit y of ea rn inga liv eliho od thr oug h me nia l toi l. Comin g down to mor e rec ent cen tur ies, we fin d thatthe wor d "libe ra l" has acquir ed a variety of me an ing s. For some per son s, IVE - f ist ri ation t inties l , ou e ctive it d S t t ge f si nal tionaries. i s of t ation i ral," ry er e isely ly ed- though used- . ry ction e s - l y lly . ancient Greeks i guished n l t e ile s. l i s d, l olitics. ile a ed . , t es , - d l . theles , i t - l" i ed, c r d l / J -i s , sity ing od h i l l. g ies, that liberal" has acquired ings. or s me persons,

the term "li be ra lism" ha s tak en on a va gu ely sen tim ent alcon not atio nas a sort of rou gh syno nym for an yth ing dec ent , hum ane , kind or fai ntl y vir tuo us. No t all sig ni fic at ion sof the wor d "li be ra l,"how ­ ever, are so ino ffe nsi ve ,even wh en the y are vac uou san d fut ile . Some of them are ver y sin ist er an d bode ill fo r the fut ure of We ster n civ ili za tio n. Mod ern lib era lsma y fir st be div ide dint o rel igi ou s "L ibe ra ls"and mo ral "L ibe ral s." Th ese embrac emany sha des and varieti es, bu t all of them share one commo ncha rac ­ terist ic:the y all want to be fre e from som e or all re lig ious and mor al rest rain ts. 1 Some re lig iou s "L ibe ral s" are con ten t wi th be ing fr ee from the rest rain t of any org an ize d chur ch . Others go fur the r in their dem ands fo r fal se libe rty of cons ­ cie nc e. They wil l no t toler ate the dic tat es of an ob jectiv emo ral ord er, pre fer rin gto work out their spi ritu al des tin ies in the un lim itedsec rec yof the ir own mi nd s.Th ey are mor al rel ati vists, for whom no abs olu te ob jec tiv eva lue sex ist . Th ere is yet a mor e ext rem e gro up of mor al "L ibe ra ls" who loudly pro clai m man's "r ight " to fre edom from mor al John H. Ha llowe ll, Mai n Cu rren ts in Mod ern Po liti cal Though t (Ne w Yor k: Henry Holt & Co., 19 50 ). Sec tio n IV, "Th e Crisi s of Our Times," evalua tes many char acter istics of con­ tempo rary reli gio us and moral liber alism . ralism" ely e tal ation y ing t, e, tly t us. ifi ations ral," - , ff nsive, e s ile. r e n tion. ls i d wus " i rals" i rals." s e es, n - ic: e li ious oral rest i ts. 1 li ious i rals" t i g i t ized ch. t r ds s t - e. t tes i e l , f ring t al i ies in ited y o s. l tivists, te tive v l s i t. e l i rals" l l i i t" l I John H. Hallowell, Main C ts m l t : ). i n Times," evaluate many characteristics of con- i us l .

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