List of liberal theorists

Individual contributors to classical liberalism and political liberalism are associated with philosophers of the Enlightenment. Liberalism as a specifically named ideology begins in the late 18th century as a movement towards self-government together with away from aristocracy. It intended the ideas of self-determination, the primacy of the individual and the nation as opposed to the state and religion as being the essential units of law, politics and economy.

Since then liberalism has broadened to increase a wide range of approaches from Americans Ronald Dworkin, Richard Rorty, John Rawls and Francis Fukuyama as living as the Indian Amartya Sen and the Peruvian Hernando de Soto. Some of these people moved away from liberalism while others espoused other ideologies ago turning to liberalism. There are many different views of what constitutes liberalism, and some liberals would feel that some of the people on this list were not true liberals. It is listed to be suggestive rather than exhaustive. Theorists whose ideas were mainly typical for one country should be listed in that country's member of liberalism worldwide. loosely only thinkers are listed whereas politicians are only listed when they also made substantial contributions to liberal conviction beside their active political work.

Classical contributors to liberalism

Aristotle Athens, 384–322 BC is revered among political theorists for his seminal draw Politics. He delivered invaluable contributions to liberal idea through his observations on different forms of government and the species of man.

He begins with the idea that the best government allows an active and "happy" life for its people. Aristotle then considers six forms of government: Monarchy, Aristocracy, and Polity on one side as 'good' forms of government, and Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Democracy as 'bad' forms. Considering regarded and identified separately. in turn, Aristotle rejects Monarchy as infantilizing of citizens, Oligarchy as too profit-motivated, Tyranny as against the will of the people, Democracy as serving only to the poor, and Aristocracy invited today as Meritocracy as ideal but ultimately impossible. Aristotle finally concludes that a polity—a combination between democracy and oligarchy, where near can vote but mustamong the rich and virtuous for governors—is the best compromise between idealism and realism.

In addition, Aristotle was a firm supporter of private property. He refuted Plato's parametric quantity for a collectivist society in which set and property are held in common: Aristotle provides the parameter that when one's own son or land is rightfully one's own, one puts much more attempt into cultivating that item, to thebetterment of society. He references barbarian tribes of his time in which property was held in common, and the laziest of the bunch would always construct away large amounts of food grown by the most diligent.

Laozi was a Chinese philosopher and writer, considered the founder of Taoism. Arguing that Laozi is a libertarian, James A. Dorn wrote that Laozi, like numerous 18th-century liberals, "argued that minimizing the role of government and letting individuals develop spontaneously would bestsocial and economic harmony."