Liberty in Society

             Both Adam Smith and Alexis de Tocqueville agree that an .

             individual is the most qualified to make decisions affecting the .

             sphere of the individual as long as those decisions do not violate the .

             law of justice. From this starting point, each theorist proposes a .

             role of government and comments on human nature and civil society. .

             Smith focuses on economic liberty and the ways in which government can .

             repress this liberty, to the detriment of society. De Tocqueville .

             emphasizes political liberty and the way that government can be .

             organized to promote political liberty, protect individual liberty, .

             and promote civil liberty.

             Adam Smith's theory makes a strong argument for the assertion .

             that a free market will provide overall good for society, but, as de.

             Tocqueville points out, it provides little or no protection for the .

             poor. Smith's picture of human nature given in The Theory of Moral.

             Sentiments suggests that people would do good and take care of the .

             weak because of characteristics of their nature. Unfortunately, this .

             image contrasts with the picture of the individual which emerges from .

             his economic argument in Wealth of Nations and is a generally .

             unsatisfying answer.

             In attempting to define liberty, Adam Smith is mostly .

             concerned with negative liberty, or freedom from constraint, .

             especially market constraints. According to him, in a free market, as .

             long as they are not fettered by government regulation, actions are.

             guided toward the public good as if by an invisible hand. Furthermore, .

             the economic sphere is the determining section of society. Therefore .

             from his economic model, he derives his argument for the best role of .

             government and asserts that the resultant society will be the best .

             overall for civilization. .

             Since he defines the individual as sovereign (within the laws .

             of justice), and he defines liberty as freedom from constraint, his.

             argument begins with the individual, defining a man's labor as the .

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