Liberalism and Education

Liberalism is an evolving political, economic and moral philosophy that stresses the significance of individual rights. It has had a significant influence in politics, economics, moral doctrine, and education especially in Western Europe and the United States. As a political philosophy it arose as an attempt to re-legitimize political authority at a time when religious wars had devastated Europe and at a time when the doctrine of the divine right of kings that had previously been used to justify political and moral order was discredited. As an economic idea, liberalism's primary concern is the development of market economies. As a political ideal it is concerned with individual rights and the role of government in protecting them. The history of liberalism is a history of coming to terms with what these ideas mean in the context of changing social, political, and economic considerations. As a moral ideal it takes the individual person as both the agent of and the standard for moral action. As an educational idea its concern is the development of individual autonomy.