Interview in the magazin The European

On the meaning of liberalism

Liberalism is being understood differently in different parts of the world. Martin Eiermann has interviewed Claus Dierksmeier, Director of the Global Ethic Institute and Academic Director of the Humanistic Management Center on the meaning of the term liberalism and a reasonable notion of liberty.

In this interview Claus Dierksmeier talks about a wide range of topics including the differences of a continental European and an Anglo Saxon perspective on what it means to be a liberal as well as a brief historical excursion into the evolution of liberal thought. Furthermore Claus elaborates on his conception of qualitative vs quantitative freedom connecting it to the path breaking work of Isaiah Berlin who introduced positive and negative freedoms to the academic discourse in the late 1950s. The interview is not only focused on theoretical argument though but also provides examples from politics, looks at the role of the European Union and demonstrates the relevance of liberal thought for applied business ethics.

You can read the full interview (available in German) by following this link.

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