Douglas Rasmussen: The Evolution of Liberalism

Douglas Rasmussen discusses the path of liberalism, from the philosophy of freedom to its current pro-​regulation incarnation.

Douglas Rasmussen

Douglas Rasmussen is a professor of philosophy at St. John’s University and co-​author (along with Douglas J. Den Uyl) of several books on ethics and political philosophy including Liberty and Nature: An Aristotelian Defense of Liberal Order (1991), Liberalism Defended: The Challenge of Post-​Modernity (1997), and Norms of Liberty: A Perfectionist Basis for Non-​Perfectionist Politics (2005).

To liberalize something means to set it free or to loosen restrictions on it. How then is it that the word ‘liberal’ in contemporary American parlance is synonymous with economic regulation and an increase in the coercive power of government? Douglas Rasmussen, a professor of philosophy at St. John’s University, briefly explains the history behind the term.

Produced by Caleb Brown, Evan Banks, and Austin Bragg.