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Single Idea 23129

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / g. Liberalism critique ]

Full Idea

The right-wing critique of liberalism is largely an attack on its overreliance on reason; the left-wing one, mostly an attack on its false faith in reform.

Gist of Idea

Right-wingers attack liberal faith in reason, left-wingers attack its faith in reform

Source

Adam Gopnik (A Thousand Small Sanities [2019], 2)

Book Ref

Gopnik,Adam: 'A Thousand Small Sanities' [riverrun 2019], p.84

A Reaction

I doubt whether sensible liberals do rely too much on reason, though they do rely of scientific evidence (after peer review!). No one can doubt that lots of reforms have occurred, so it must be frustration with the very slow process.

The 19 ideas from 'A Thousand Small Sanities'

23128 The opposite of liberalism is dogmatism [Gopnik]
23125 Most good social changes are incremental, rather than revolutionary [Gopnik]
23126 Conservatives often want peace, prosperity and tolerance, but not social fairness [Gopnik]
23124 Liberal community is not blood ties or tradition, but shared choices, and sympathy for the losers [Gopnik]
23127 Liberal community includes flight from the family, into energetic reforming groups [Gopnik]
23132 Conservatives believe obedience and rank are essential to social order [Gopnik]
23129 Right-wingers attack liberal faith in reason, left-wingers attack its faith in reform [Gopnik]
23133 Cosmopolitan liberals lack national loyalty, and welcome excessive immigration [Gopnik]
23130 Popular imperialism gives the poor the belief that their acts have world historical meaning [Gopnik]
23131 Patriots love their place, but nationalists have a paranoid ethnic hostility [Gopnik]
23136 Liberal free speech is actually paid speech [Gopnik]
23134 A 'free' society implies a free market, which always produces predatory capitalism and inequalities [Gopnik]
23139 Liberalism's attempt to be neutral and colour-blind erases cultural identities [Gopnik]
23135 Classic Marxists see liberalism as the ideology of the bourgeoisie [Gopnik]
23140 Environmental disasters result not from capitalism, but from a general drive for growth [Gopnik]
23138 Modern left-wingers criticise liberalism's control of culture [Gopnik]
23142 People are fallible, so liberalism tries to distribute power [Gopnik]
23143 Liberals have tried very hard to build a conscience into their institutions [Gopnik]
23141 Left-wingers are inconsistent in their essentialist descriptions of social groups [Gopnik]