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Spinoza, Pufendorf and Locke all championed freedom of thought (including freedom of religion) and of speech; all three thinkers deserve credit for having forged the fundamental principles of the liberal tradition. Spinoza, in particular, was the first writer in modern times to articulate a systematic defence of democracy. He believed that the state should promote the welfare of its citizens, while maximising their freedom. Although he equated right with power, he also advocated respect for the moral law, stressing the importance of being good to other people. Keywords: Spinoza, Pufendorf, Locke, freedom of religion, freedom of thought, liberalism

Abstract. The author assesses the relevance and analytical significance of authoritarian liberalism and interprets it as one of the modern conceptual models of ordoliberalism and European integration. The basic concepts of authoritarian liberalism and ordoliberalism emphasise the political and ideological connection between the authoritarianism of the strong state and the economic liberalism of market rationality. As a flexible market-oriented form of authoritarian liberalism, ordoliberalism means a rational strategy for maintaining and promoting the European integration project towards which the market economy and the technocratic elite are moving to contain crises. Due to the presence of the values of political liberalism, pluralism and the rule of law, authoritarianism in this structure is not repressive or monocentric, but subject to democratic criticism in relation to the supranational regulation of European integration.
Keywords: authoritarian liberalism, ordoliberalism, market capitalism, democracy, eurocrisis, European integration

Abstract. Among twentieth-century political philosophers, Americans
John Rawls and Robert Nozick are generally recognized as giants – both
for the boldness of their arguments and for the influence they have exerted. They sketched rival visions. Rawls, inspired by Immanuel Kant, argued for a world characterized by tolerance, equality, and justice as fairness. Nozick, claiming a Lockean heritage but actually inspired by Adam Smith (the "invisible hand") and Herbert Spencer ("survival of the fittest"), outlined a program for a minimal state, with very little taxation, offering no cushion at all against poverty, and providing no state assistance for the poor, the sick, the disabled, or the widowed. Rawls' vision is clearly part of the liberal tradition, while Nozick's championing of a minimal state contains illiberal elements.
Keywords: John Rawls, Robert Nozick, political liberalism, libertarianism, taxation, equality, justice.

This paper gives the outline of an argument for the viability and desirability of an antifoundationalist approach to human rights and liberalism. The conception of normativity which frames my argument stands on the intuition, central in the second Wittgenstein and in the American pragmatist tradition, that accepting the ultimate circularity of our justifications does not condemn us to the corrosive consequences of radical scepticism. The conception of liberalism I prospect is centred on the deliberative democratic ideal that the best way to live with difference and conflict is to subordinate decisions of collective interests to public deliberation, which equally respects everybody's freedom and dignity, and maintains its outcomes and principles open to revision. I will argue that an anti-foundationalist conception of normativity is the most suitable for the fuller realisation of this deliberative democratic ideal, and that a society inspired by this ideal creates the most favourable conditions for the fuller flourishing of human potentialities in any area of life. I will also point out that a volitional and discursive conception of normativity enables us to focus our efforts on the concrete political and moral obstacles to the creation of a free and equal society, thus enabling us to release the tensions between the universalistic claims of human rights and democracy and the particularistic claims of recognition raised by different cultural groups.

The 1920s were crucial in the history of Italian politics & in the life of Benedetto Croce, whose theories on liberalism reached great fame during this period. During the government led by Giovanni Giolitti, Croce was nominated Minister of Education & he became famous not only for his commitment to promote school system reform, but also for his innovative ideas on liberalism & his strong ideas on freedom of religion. He refined his theories analyzing liberalism in the context of relations between ethics & politics, emphasizing his dislike of any dangerous form of ethical state & outlining the relationship between liberism & liberalism. M. Williamson