Liberalism and Its Discontents Quotes

“Az a fajta liberalizmus, amelyik az értékek tekintetében könyörtelenül semlegesnek akar mutatkozni, végül azért fordul önmaga ellen, mert magának a liberalizmusnak az értékét is megkérdőjelezi, és olyasmi lesz belőle, ami nem liberális.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Even though individualism may be historically contingent, it has become so deeply part of the way that modern people understand themselves that it is hard to see how it gets walked back. Modern market economies depend heavily on flexibility, labor mobility, and innovation. If transactions need to take place within limited cultural boundaries, the size of markets and the kind of innovation that comes from cultural diversity will necessarily be limited. Individualism is not a fixed cultural characteristic of Western culture as alleged by certain versions of critical theory. It is a by-product of socioeconomic modernization that gradually takes place across different societies.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Kant picked up on Rousseau’s idea of perfectibility, and turned it into the core of his moral philosophy. At the beginning of the Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals, he says that the only thing that is unconditionally good is a good will, and that the capacity to make moral choices is what makes us distinctively human. Human beings are ends in themselves and should never be treated as a means to other ends.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Yüzyıllar boyunca liberal toplumlar için üç temel gerekçe öne sürülmüştür. İlki pragmatiktir: Liberalizm, şiddeti kontrol altına almanın ve farklı toplulukların barış içinde bir arada yaşamasını sağlamanın bir yoludur. İkincisi ahlâkîdir: Liberalizm, temel insan onurunu ve özellikle bireylerin seçim yapma yetisini ifade eden özerklik hakkını korur. Son gerekçe ise ekonomiktir: Liberalizm, mülkiyet haklarını ve ekonomik faaliyetlerde serbestliği güvence altına alarak ekonomik büyümeyi ve büyümenin getirdiği tüm olumlu sonuçları teşvik eder.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“personal autonomy is the source of an individual’s fulfillment, that does not mean that unlimited freedom and the constant disrupting of constraints will make a person more fulfilled.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“many religious conservatives see liberalism as promoting a general moral laxity in which individuals worship themselves, rather than any transcendent God or moral principle.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Knowledge is embedded in life experiences; knowing is not an abstract cognitive act but is intimately bound up with doing and acting and being acted upon.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“While neoliberalism threatened liberal democracy by creating excessive inequality and financial instability, liberalism on the left evolved into modern identity politics, versions of which then began to undermine the premises of liberalism itself.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“The economic theory of collective action argues that individuals come together in groups primarily as a means of maximizing their own individual interests, and not out of any natural sociability.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Douglass North, who transformed development theory by introducing the factor of institutions—that is, persistent rules that coordinate social activity—as a key explanatory variable for economic growth.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“The idea of “personal responsibility” is a liberal concept that is built around a true insight, but one that has been carried to extremes by neoliberals.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“government programs that seek to help people through difficult times frequently create moral hazard. That is, they encourage more of the behavior whose effects they were meant to mitigate.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Neoliberals did not just critique state economic intervention; they also criticized social policies that were designed to temper the effects and inequalities produced by market economies.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“But the neoliberal agenda was pushed to a counterproductive extreme. A valid insight into the superior efficiency of markets evolved into something of a religion, in which state intervention was opposed as a matter of principle.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“On the left, autonomy meant personal autonomy with regard to lifestyle choices and values, and resistance to the social norms imposed by the surrounding society. Pushed down this road, liberalism began to erode its own premise of tolerance as it evolved into modern identity politics.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“autonomy meant primarily the right to buy and sell freely, without interference from the state. Pushing this notion to extremes, economic liberalism turned into “neoliberalism” in the late twentieth century and led to grotesque inequalities,”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Liberalism sought to lower the aspirations of politics, not as a means of seeking the good life as defined by religion, but rather as a way of ensuring life itself, that is, peace and security.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“there is a liberal belief that in a free marketplace of ideas, good ideas will in the end drive out bad ones through deliberation and evidence.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Liberal institutions protect the democratic process by limiting executive power; once they are eroded, democracy itself comes under attack.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“liberalism,” I refer to the doctrine that first emerged in the second half of the seventeenth century that argued for the limitation of the powers of governments through law and ultimately constitutions, creating institutions protecting the rights of individuals living under their jurisdiction.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“the identity of the speaker should not determine what that speaker is allowed to say.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Низка людей, які працюють у цій галузі, починаючи з таких постструктуралістів, як Лакан і Дерріда, писали в такий спосіб, який, здавалося, навмисне затуманював їхні думки й захищав від відповідальності за суперечності і слабку логіку.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Комуністичні суспільства були схильні цінувати виробництво більше за споживання, що призвело до поганих наслідків: у них були «герої соціалістичної праці», але не було продуктів на полицях магазинів.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Ліберальний індивідуалізм не унеможливлює і не заперечує людської схильності до спілкування; він просто означає, що соціальна взаємодія в ліберальному суспільстві в ідеалі буде переважно добровільною. Ви можете приєднатися до інших людей, але до яких саме груп — це, наскільки можливо, питання особистого вибору. Саме це створює громадянське су­спільство, яке ми бачимо навколо себе.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“Нема причин, з яких економічна ефективність має домінувати над усіма іншими соціальними цінностями.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalism and Its Discontents

“O liberalismo está intimamente associado a certas formas de conhecimento, particularmente ao método científico, entendido como o melhor meio de compreender e controlar o mundo exterior. Assume que os indivíduos são os melhores juízes dos seus próprios interesses e são capazes de assimilar e testar a informação empírica sobre o mundo que os rodeia ao fazer esses juízos. Embora os juízos inevitavelmente variem, existe a crença liberal de que num mercado livre de ideias, as ideias mais válidas acabarão por expulsar as más ideias no processo de deliberação e comprovação.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalismo e Seus Descontentes

“As instituições financeiras comportam-se de modo muito diferente do que as empresas na economia real. Ao contrário de uma companhia de manufatura, um grande banco de investimento é sistemicamente perigoso e se correr riscos excessivos pode acarretar custos enormes à economia no seu todo.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalismo e Seus Descontentes

“Há uma questão filosófica mais profunda (…) que é a de saber se os seres humanos são apenas animais consumistas, cujo bem-estar se mede pela quantidade do que consomem, ou se são animais produtores cuja felicidade depende da sua capacidade de moldar a natureza e exercer as suas faculdades criativas. O neoliberalismo contemporâneo tem optado claramente pela primeira hipótese, mas existem outras tradições que defendem que os humanos são simultaneamente animais consumidores e produtores, e que a felicidade humana se encontra algures no equilíbrio entre essas duas características.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalismo e Seus Descontentes

“Os economistas baseiam toda uma teoria de comportamento social nesta premissa individualista. A teoria económica da ação coletiva defende que os indivíduos se agregam em grupos sobretudo como um meio de maximizar os seus próprios interesses individuais e não por qualquer motivo de sociabilidade natural.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalismo e Seus Descontentes

“Muitos dos primeiros teóricos do contratualismo acreditavam na legitimidade de um contrato de escravatura: se um indivíduo vulnerável fosse confrontado com a escolha entre uma vida de escravatura ou a morte às mãos de alguém mais forte, escolheria voluntariamente a escravatura. O argumento (…) ecoa a crítica marxista do conceito de «mão-de-obra gratuita» nas sociedades capitalistas: os contratos celebrados entre indivíduos com níveis de poder muito desiguais não eram justos pelo simples facto de que eram voluntários apenas na aparência.”
― Francis Fukuyama, Liberalismo e Seus Descontentes