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Complexity and the Meaning of Freedom: The Classical Liberal View

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  • Steven R. Hickerson

Abstract

. The classical liberal view of economic freedom as the absence of coercion in economic affairs is examined in its historical and epistemological foundations. The contributions of Descartes, Bentham, Newton and Locke are emphasized. This view is found to be unduly restrictive in relation to the complexity and synergistic interdependencies of modem technology and economic arrangements. More specifically, it is found to be atomistic, negativistic, aresponsible, and historically perverse. It is based on the notion that markets somehow exist prior to and independently of social control— an error of which Adam Smith and the classical economists were not guilty. The complex and interdependent characteristics of contemporary society, with its maldistribution of income, wealth and power, have rendered it obsolete. The instrumentalist view of freedom outlines the competing alternative.

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  • Steven R. Hickerson, 1984. "Complexity and the Meaning of Freedom: The Classical Liberal View," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 43(1), pages 91-101, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ajecsc:v:43:y:1984:i:1:p:91-101
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.1984.tb02226.x
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    Cited by:

    1. Ai-Thu Dang, 1997. "Monnaie, libéralisme et cohésion sociale. Autour de John Locke," Revue Économique, Programme National Persée, vol. 48(3), pages 761-771.
    2. Safarzynska, Karolina & van den Bergh, Jeroen C.J.M., 2010. "Evolving power and environmental policy: Explaining institutional change with group selection," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(4), pages 743-752, February.

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