The first chapter sets out to define liberalism. Kekes views
liberalism as arising during the Renaissance: it began during
the Renaissance as a reaction to religious orthodoxy, gained
strength during the Reformation, and became one of the main
political forces in the Enlightenment (p.2) Kekes identifies
three key figures in the development of liberal thought, namely
John Locke, Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill. From his brief
outline of these three thinkers, it appears that much of modern
liberalism descends from Immanuel Kant, in particular from his
development of the idea of autonomy. And this is where I got a
pleasant surprise reading the book. Professor Kekes comes to a
very similar conclusion to myself when attempting to define
liberalism. He sees the aim of autonomy as being the organising
principle: The basic liberal values may then be identified as
pluralism, freedom, rights, equality, and distributive justice.
What makes them basically valuable is that they enable
individuals to live autonomously.