Dear David,
Thank you for your review of the Welch/Gillespie book, which is just more of the epistemological and moral confusion/ambiguity of so many post-modern “libertarians.” In many respects this book is a continuation of the Virginia Postrel book and theme, a point they in fact make in their book. But if liberty is simply change, then what is the ground for such a view, not to mention the idea of liberty itself?
Three quotes come to mind from C.S. Lewis:
“A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.”
—The Abolition of Man
“The very idea of freedom presupposes some objective moral law which overarches rulers and ruled alike. Subjectivism about values is eternally incompatible with democracy. We and our rulers are of one kind only so long as we are subject to one law. But if there is no Law of Nature, the ethos of any society is the creation of its rulers, educators and conditioners; and every creator stands above and outside his own creation.”
—Christian Reflections
“You cannot go on seeing through things for ever. The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it…. If you see through everything, then everything is transparent. But a wholly transparent world is an invisible world. To see through all things is the same as not to see.”
—The Abolition of Man
Best regards,
David
—
David J. Theroux
Founder and President
The Independent Institute
http://www.independent.org
UPDATE Here is David Gordon’s review of Virginia Postrel’s book, mentioned above.
8:38 am on September 2, 2011
