Liberalism

by Leonard Trelawney Hobhouse

The book has no illustrations or index. Purchasers are entitled to a free trial membership in the General Books Club where they can select from more than a million books without charge. Subjects: Political Science / General;

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction

130 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1911

About the author

Please note that works by this author have been printed using several variants of his name:

L.T. Hobhouse
L. T. Hobhouse
L T Hobhouse
Leonard T. Hobhouse

Because he is listed in The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, The Routledge Dictionary of Twentieth Century Political Thinkers, and The Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thinkers under the name 'Leonard Trelawney Hobhouse', all of his books have been brought together under that name.

Reviews

[Michael Meeuwis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hobhouse is becoming one of my pet hobby-horses: one of the more amenable political thinkers you may not have heard of. This is Liberal Socialism, a type of political theory that (at present) seems well-primed to irritate the greatest number of people on both the contemporary life and right. On the other hand, its attempt to balance markets (typical of classical liberalism) with elements of socialism feels like a project we're still trying to sort out. Describing social "harmony" after Stalinism seems like a problematic thing; on the other hand, this book's idea that our private ideas are drawn from public ones, which Hobhouse puts forward in a way gentler than the Marxian or Foucauldian accounts of this, intrigues me. I've seen a number of sources refer to this book as simply a summary of nineteenth-century liberalism at the beginning of the twentieth century, and although this summative desire is clear, the ideas put forward are quite different--or, at the very least, leaning further towards the J.S. Mill of the autobiography as any other nineteenth-century source. I don't know why Hobhouse went away while other thinkers from his period--if, OK, not many of them--remain hovering in our consciousness. But interesting in connecting the limited state of nineteenth-century liberalism with the more complicated versions of the state we're used to now.

[Paul Crider · Rating 4 out of 5]

"To this it has been driven by the manifest teaching of experience that liberty without equality is a name of noble sound and squalid result."

Hobhouse lays out a vision of social liberalism in the spirit of JS Mill. For Hobhouse, liberalism requires a significant degree of equality and provision of positive liberties (like public education). Hobhouse sees the activist state as a tool for minimizing power disparities in social and economic life. This notably included not just industrial relations but intrafamily relations, so that pursuing greater freedom and equality for all meant empowering women and, to some extent, children.

Hobhouse's expansive view of positive freedom and equality as a necessary constituent of freedom led him to some paternalistic conclusions. Modern liberals might raise an eyebrow at the commentary on alcohol, given everything we've learned since the time when the US government was given free rein to abolish the drink. But the paternalistic instinct is quite a bit more concerning in his comments on black Americans, who he speculated may not be entirely ready for freedom.

Overall Hobhouse's Liberalism is an important mile marker in the transition of 19th century social liberalism to 20th century modern liberalism.

[barb howe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice, short summary of the basic principles of liberalism from the POV of a British gentleman in 1911. Hobhouse describes liberalism as being more often associated with what it is against rather than what it is for. Liberalism is “a protest” or criticism against “religious, political, economic, social, and ethical” authoritarian orders (p. 14). He says the business of liberalism, “seems to be not so much to build up as to pull down, to remove obstacles which block human progress rather than to point the positive goal of endeavour or fashion the fabric of civilization” (p. 15). This could lead to laissez-faire and it does, but, Hobhouse argues it doesn't stop there, ultimately because liberalism recognizes not just the natural rights of the individual in isolation but the individual as part of society.

Hobhouse sees liberalism as a restraint not just on the power of the state but on anything that interferes with the rights of individuals, including and especially inequality. The liberal state should act to restrain illiberal forces in society which would violate individual rights because “in the absence of drastic legislative protection, [the state alone] could do something to redress the inequality between employer and employed… true freedom postulates substantial equality between the parties” (p. 47). He sees no inherent contradiction between liberalism and socialism, but he devotes a chapter to describing illiberal socialism.

Of course there are some limitations given that he's a white man writing in 1911. He's not sure people of color have the capacity to govern themselves, and his listing of "liberal states" includes the British colonies as colonies, but he does seem to imply that he approves of women's suffrage (although he doesn't make that explicit). Overall, I appreciated his above description of what liberalism is and what it requires (active participation by all "intelligent adults" on at least some level) in a society which is committed to protecting everyone's freedom as much as possible.

[Sinta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read Chapter Two for an outline of the elements of Liberalism for Politics 209.

Good overview of the relevant elements.

A small point I enjoyed: "Until the white man has fully learnt to rule his own life, the best of all things that he can do with the dark man is to do nothing with him."

[So Hakim · Rating 5 out of 5]

Public domain book from 1919. Basically overview on the history of liberal thought.

[Vincent]

Great book - review later