The idea that there are divisions within liberalism regarding the role of the state has been well documented by political scientists. Andrew Heywood notes that liberals disagree on the role of the state because of the classical liberal view that humans are rational creatures that know what’s in their best interests and therefore don’t need the state to make decisions for them. However, on the other hand, David Spitz argues that liberals disagree on the role of the state because modern liberals believe the state has a duty to protect and support all individuals in society in order for them to maximise individual freedom, whereas classical liberals believe in the theory of survival of the fittest. Throughout this essay, the two forms of liberalism; modern and classical will be discussed…show more content… The idea of freedom is one which is shared by both Modern and classical liberals. However, modern and classical liberals both believe in two different types of freedom; positive and negative freedom. These two types of freedom were used by Andrew Heywood to explain why liberals disagree on the role of the state. This can be seen as the idea of positive freedom was developed by Green which was the idea that state intervention was actually positive. This is where individuals would be allowed to gain freedom instead of being restricted of it due to circumstances which they cannot change, for example being born into a poor household could restrict chances of freedom, therefore, the idea that the state can support individuals through free health care can allow individuals to gain freedom. Heywood, notes that this idea of positive freedom is not shared by the classical liberals who advocate a negative form of freedom. This is where they believe that the individual should be left alone as they are endowed with reason and know what’s in their best interests, therefore the
