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Natural Rights and Liberty: a Critical Examination of Some Late Eighteenth-Century Debates in English Political Thought

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Natural Rights and Liberty: a Critical Examination of Some Late Eighteenth-Century Debates in English Political Thought Grigorios I. Molivas NATURAL RIGHTS AND LIBERTY: A CRITICAL EXAMINATION OF SOME LATE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY DEBATES IN ENGLISH POLITICAL THOUGHT. Submitted to the University College London for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy ProQuest Number: 10046086 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest. ProQuest 10046086 Published by ProQuest LLC(2016). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 ABSTRACT The purpose of the thesis is to explore the conception of natural rights and liberty in late eighteenth-century English political thought. It is argued that the conception of natural rights, or rights of man as they have been conventionally called, is a mixture of heterogenous and often contradictory theoretical assumptions. It is shown that the language of natural rights on the one hand, was increasingly dominated by utilitarian ideas, and on the other, was associated with a conception of moral agency - derived from treatises on morals and metaphysics - which rendered the rhetoric of natural rights especially appealing for purposes of reform. An attempt is made to illuminate in detail the way in which the right of private judgment was transferred from religion to politics. In distinguishing between the formation of thought, its expression, and acting in accordance with it, it is contended that the affinity between the arguments in defence of religious and political liberty lies in their common ground, that is, as rights concerning the expression of opinion. The exercise of such a right by all was deemed equally compatible and even conducive to the formation of the public interest. Although terms such as ‘rights’ and ‘liberty’ were often used synonymously, an attack on natural rights involved an analytical distinction between liberty and a right. The study investigates conceptual problems involved in attempts to define liberty in relation to law. It further discusses the tendency, common in many eighteenth-century writers, to confound liberty with other concepts such as utility, obedience, or wisdom. The primary sources used consist of a considerable number of pamphlets which have previously received little attention. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Title: 1. Abstract: 2. Table of Contents: 3-5. Acknowledgements: 6. Introduction: 7-21. I. The General Divisions of Liberty: 22-39. II. A Critical Analysis of Price’s Conception of Liberty as Self-Determination: 40-65. III. From ‘Man is a Law unto Himself’, to ‘Man is his own Legislator’: 66-83. IV. Natural Rights and the Public Good: Josiah Tucker and the Attack on the ‘Lockian Republic’: 84-104. i. The Attack on Moral Agency: 88-96. a. The Contrast between Titles and the Public Good: 96-104. V. The Influence of Utilitarianism on the Rights of Man: 105-134. i Tucker’s Critique and the General Response to Price: 105-113. a. The Lockean Counter-Attack: 113-124. Hi. Utilitarianism and the Language of the Rights of Man: 124-134. VI. The Connection between Religion and Politics: The Problem: 135-152. VII. Toleration and Religious Liberty: 153-183. I. The Balance between the Sacredness of Religious Conscience and the Need for a Religious Establishment: 153-164. a. The Balance Subverted in two Opposite Views: Price and Burke: 164-172. Hi. The Distinction between Spiritual and Temporal Matters Abandoned: Priestley and Williams: 172-183. VIII. The Extension of the Right to Private Judgment From Religion to Politics: 184-220. i. The Right to the Formation of Private Judgment, its Expression, and to Act according to it: 184-188. a. Power and Right: 188-196. iii. Duties to God, Inherent Powers, and Inalienable Rights: 196-200. IV. The Nature of Natural Rights: 200-207. V. The Extent of the Right to Private Judgment: 207-211. VI. The Importance of Opinion: 211-220. IX. The Distinction between Political and Civil Liberty: 221-251. I. * Political* as Opposed to ‘ Civil*, and Political*-'Civil* as Opposed to Natural* : 221-224. II. Priestley* s Definitions: 224-233. ill. Montesquieu and Price*s Account of Liberty: in Additional Observations; 233-243. IV. David Williams: From Montesquieu to Rousseau: 243-251. X. Between Liberty, a Right, and Utility: 252-285. i. Lind and the 'Partial Absence of Coercion* : 253-258. ii. Hey and the 'Liberty of the Peaceable* : 258-271. iii. Liberty as Utility: 271-285. XI. ‘Omnipotence’ and the Golden Rule: 286-307. i. Unlimited Power: The Point of Concurrence: 286-293. ii. The Qualifications of 'Omnipotence* : 293-298. 5 iii. The Logical Prerequisite of Government: 298-302. ÏV. The Golden Rule as Identity of Interests: 302-307. Conclusion: 308-317. Bibliography: 318-346. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. First and foremost I must express my deep gratitude to my supervisor. Professor Fred Rosen. He has spared much of his valuable time in reading carefully earlier drafts of the thesis (even meticulously correcting typographical errors). His suggestions have always been enlightening and his criticisms thought-provoking. Under his guidance the presentation of the arguments have become clearer, and my earlier disappointments have been rewarded by the benefit of learning how to discipline my thoughts. I am also grateful to Dr. Stephen Conway, and Dr. Thomas Philip Schofield, who introduced me into the relevant literature at the initial stage of my research. Throughout this undertaking I have received help, encouragement (and occasionally consolation) from my former teacher at the University of Athens, Prof. Paschalis Kitromilides. He has introduced me into the subject of the history of political ideas, has excited my interest in English political thought, and has always been a source of academic inspiration. I should also like to acknowledge the assistance and friendly advice I have received from another former teacher of mine. Ass. Prof. George Mavrogordatos. Thanks are also due to Mr. Ian Mcbride, Mr. Theodore Gkourogiannis, Dr. Kyriacos Demetriou, and Mr. George Varouxakis. Mr Varouxakis has been immensely helpful in various ways. To Mr. John El Masri I owe far more than he realises, and I cordially thank him for the benefit I derived from our most stimulating discussions on moral theory. I had the privilege of being generously financed by the States Scholarships Foundation of Greece (1989-92), the ‘A. Onassis’ Public Benefit Foundation (1992), and the British Council (1992-3). I am heavily indebted to the authorities of the above institutions, and I can only hope that I have not performed below their expectations. My greatest dept of gratitude is of a personal kind, and I owed it to my wife, Dora. For ten years of student life she has been showing exemplary patience and affection. To her I would like to dedicate this work, as to her I have devoted my life. INTRODUCTION. The thesis is built around three major themes which capture different aspects of the late eighteenth-century debate about natural rights and liberty. First, it considers the doctrine of natural rights in relation to the idea of moral agency, on the one hand, and utilitarianism on the other. Second, it discusses the problem of the extension of the light of private judgement from religion to politics. Third, it concentrates on analytical discussions of liberty and the distinction between political and civil liberty. The late eighteenth-century debate on the rights of man has been customarily presented as an ideological clash between Burke and Paine,^ who established the frameworks of political radicalism and conservatism respectively.^ Diametrically opposite views have been expressed about the theoretical merits of the two gladiators’ major works. One commentator has presented Paine’sRights of Man as ‘essentially a basic philosophy’ and not a mere ‘rebuttal of Burke’s arguments’. Another has considered Burke as the original philosopher claiming that the^Reflections on the Revolution in France would have been written, even if Paine had never existed’.^ ^ Recent major contributions to the exploration of the debate beyond the Burke- Paine controversy are Gregory Claeys, ‘The French Revolution Debate and British Political Thought’, History of Political Thought, Vol. 11, 1990, pp. 59-80; T.P. Schofield, ‘Conservative Political Thought in Britain in Response to the French Revolution’, The Historical Journal, Vol. 29, 1986, pp. 601-22; J. R. Dinwiddy, ‘Conceptions of Revolution in the English Radicalism of the 1790’s’,Radicalism and Reform in Britain 1780-1850, London 1992, pp. 169-74. Consider also, S. Bernstein, ‘English Reactions to the French Revolution’,Science and Society, Vol. 9, 1945, pp. 147-71. ^ I. Christie, Stress and Stability in Late Eighteenth-Century Britain, Oxford 1984, p. 170; R.R.Fennessy,Burke, Paine and the Rights of Man: A Difference of Political Opinion, The Hague 1963, p. 10; cf. p. 220. ^ W.E. Woodward,Tom Paine: America's Godfather, London 1946, p. 191; Fennessy,Burke, Paine, and the Rights of Man, p. 253; see also pp. 244, 250. 8 Quite apart from the reason alleged, the latter contention is true simply because the Reflections constituted a response to Richard Price and not to Thomas Paine. Despite this fact, the importance of Price has been seriously underestimated, at least until recently. It was often argued that Price offered to Burke the golden opportunity to write his brilliant Reflections^ but after that Price himself was forgotten. An increasing tendency, however, to focus on the role of Rational Dissent and Richard Price, in particular, has gained ground in recent years, especially after the publication of D.O.
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