From the 17th century until the 19th century, liberals – from Adam Smith to John Stuart Mill – conceptualized liberty as the absence of interference from government and from other individuals, claiming that all people should have the freedom to develop their own unique abilities and capacities without being sabotaged by others.
Beyond označuje jasno vlogo države v sodobni družbi, liberalci so prav obsedeni nad pomenom in naravo najbolj pomembnega načela v liberalni filozofiji: prostost.