Suchergebnisse

EARLY WRITINGS OF JOHN LOCKE, ARGUING THAT THE POWER OF THE CIVIL MAGISTRATE SHOULD BE ABSOLUTE, ARE CLAIMED TO HAVE LITTLE CONNECTION WITH HIS LATER WORK WHICH STRESSES LIBERAL TOLERATION. THIS ARTICLE ATTEMPTS TO CONNECT THE TWO BY RECONSTRUCTING LOCKE'S CRITIQUE OF RELIGIOUS POLITICS. THIS DEMONSTRATION IS THEN USED TO EXPLAIN LOCKE'S DEVELOPMENT AND ILLUMINATE THE FOUNDATIONS OF CONTEMPORARY LIBERALISM.

THE CLAIM OF POLITICS AGAINST THE SECTS THAT IS IMPLICIT IN THE DENIAL OF ABSOLUTE TOLERATION OF OPINION IS EXPLORED BY LOCKE. IT BECOMES CLEAR THAT THE ESSENCE OF THIS ILLIBERALITY LIES IN DEMANDS OF EQUALITY. LOCKE HAS A POSITIVE USE OF CHRISTIANITY IN PROMOTING SECULAR ENDS. THE CORE OF THE INTOLERANCE WHICH DEFINES AND SAFEGUARDS LOCKE'S COMMITMENT TO LIBERTY IS A PLEDGE TO EQUALITY.

Religious toleration first came under discussion during the period of humanism & the Reformation; after the Enlightenment, religious liberty was recognized as a universal human right. The arguments for it that were developed before the Enlightenment should be read in the context of their authors' practical goals. There were three major types: the theological/philosophical, founded on the hope for restoration of religious consensus through reduction of faith to a few essential points; the political/pragmatic, founded on the need to preserve the state from religious wars; & the economic, founded on the contribution to national prosperity of such minorities as Jews or Anabaptists. In Switzerland & Germany, toleration generally meant the coexistence of differing confessions within a federation, but not tolerance of individual dissent; such tolerance, however, emerged in a variety of other states at different times, including France, Brandenburg, the Netherlands, Poland, & England. Sebastian Castellio was the most noteworthy advocate of tolerance in the period, & a major influence on such well-known later figures as John Locke & Pierre Beyle. W. H. Stoddard.

WHITE MOST GERMAN JURISTS REMAINED SCEPTICAL OF THE REPUBLIC, OR ACCEPTED IT GRUDGINGLY AS THE ONLY 'REASONABLE' THING TO DO, HELLER'S THEORETICAL INTERESTS DEMONSTRATE A CLEAR COMMITMENT TO WEIMAR. UNLIKE MORE RADICAL SOCIALISTS, HE ACCEPTED THE REPUBLIC'S POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS AS LEGITIMATE MEANS TO REALIZE A MORE JUST SOCIETY, AND IN CONTRAST TO THE DOMINANT MARXIST VIEW, HELLER'S IDEAL STATE UNDER THE CONDITIONS OF MODERN INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY WAS NOT THE DICTATORSHIP OF THE PROLETARIAT, BUT THE SOZIALER RECHTSSTAAT. AS WILL BE SHOWN BELOW, THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL JUSTICE REALIZED WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF THE RECHTSSTAAT WAS ARTICULATED IN HELLER'S WORKS ON POLITICAL CULTURE AND THE WEIMAR CONSTITUTION. HELLER'S ANALYSIS OF ITALIAN FASCISM AND THE SOCIAL ORIGINS OF DICTATORSHIP CONFRONT, TOO, PERSISTENT PROBLEMS IN THE REALIZATION OF POLITICAL EQUALITY IN MODERN SOCIETIES.