Yazar: Prof. Dr. | Istanbul Medipol University
Liberal Düşünce, Year: 28, Issue: 113, Winter 2024, pp. 1-27.

The word “liberal” comes from the Latin language. It was probably coined before the word “liberalism” came into use. It refers to certain attributes of human beings, such as being open-minded, peaceful, and generous in social affairs. To be liberal means to claim to have these characteristics and to try to live up to them in everyday life.

Liberalism as an “ideology” is believed to have been born during the Age of Enlightenment, and many people accept that it was the first systematic ideology. Conservatism emerged as a reaction to liberalism in the conviction that the liberal understanding of individuality and the pursuit of individual interests would inevitably destroy the foundations and communality of social life. Socialism appeared as the third ideology and it did not- at least initially, openly reject, despite denying almost all liberal principles, goals of liberals. It claimed that its basic aim was to improve and fully realize these liberal aims.

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