This monograph appeared first in German in 1902 and was translated ten years afterwards. In the translation the use of material which has appeared since the original publication is obvious. Although dealing primarily with English thought in the seventeenth century, it is of distinct value to anyone wishing to understand the changes in ideas, even in the United States, at the present time. The "economic liberalism" of which Levy writes is not a body of free-trade or laissez-faire formulas, but that deeper attitude toward the ...
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This monograph appeared first in German in 1902 and was translated ten years afterwards. In the translation the use of material which has appeared since the original publication is obvious. Although dealing primarily with English thought in the seventeenth century, it is of distinct value to anyone wishing to understand the changes in ideas, even in the United States, at the present time. The "economic liberalism" of which Levy writes is not a body of free-trade or laissez-faire formulas, but that deeper attitude toward the life of the individual and of society which was of the very blood and bone of most of the ancestors of the readers of this review. No one can deny that today, both in England and in this country, there has been an almost revolutionary change, not only in our attitude toward specific measures, but in our general viewpoint toward social problems and especially the relation of the individual to the state. This, perhaps, is both essential and desirable. What one cannot fail to regret, however, is that so many of the present generation take an attitude of petulant hostility toward the older views and look on them merely as an expression of blindness and narrow-mindedness. President Hyde of Bowdoin once referred to the "New England conscience" as "butt of our ' jests, but sovereign of our souls." The old liberalism may today be described in much the same terms. It was fought for by our ancestors with a zeal worthy of more romantic causes and with motives which went far deeper than a personal desire to accumulate and possess property in peace. This monograph by Dr. Levy aims to show the beginnings of this movement. It contains some detail as to actual measures in which liberalism worked itself out, and one might perhaps criticize the inclusion of some of these to the exclusion of others. But, after all, these are not essential to the author's main object. The chief criticism might seem to be the slimness of the work, especially on the side of tracing the literary development of the concepts underlying the liberal philosophy. For instance, the seventh chapter, entitled Philosophic Influences, covers only six pages. Probably, however, it is only fair to the author to say that his work is intended to be interpretative and that he assumes a. general knowledge of the literature on the part of the reader. Two points of particular interest may be noted. The first is the discussion in the second chapter of the relation of the struggle for religious liberty to the struggle for economic liberty. That the first was entirely anterior to the second and apart from it he does not hold. On the other hand, although emphasizing the fact that "the achievement of religious freedom was the necessary preliminary to all other occupations, especially to industrial activity," he is far from adopting the economic interpretation which would make the religious struggle a necessity due solely to industrial needs. In the second place, he attempts briefly in his last chapter to show the great change which has taken place in recent years in Great Britain in the way of a reaction from the principles of the old liberalism as shown to some extent by expressions of opinion, but still more by measures enacted or advocated. Dr. Levy has been accused by some reviewers of exaggerating the extent of this change and the complete decay of the old ideas. Such critics must have failed to read his last page. In view of this fact it is worthwhile to quote his two last sentences. After a summary of what economic liberalism taught England, he says: -"The American Economic Review," Volume 4 [1914]
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