
Contents
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The positivist vision: Popper’s ‘laboratory liberalism’ The positivist vision: Popper’s ‘laboratory liberalism’
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Berlin and the tragic vision Berlin and the tragic vision
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. Hayek and the vision of a Darwinian natural order . Hayek and the vision of a Darwinian natural order
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Oakeshott and the ‘civil’ vision Oakeshott and the ‘civil’ vision
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Conclusion Conclusion
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3: Visions of Freedom: The Response to Totalitarianism
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Published:May 2003
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Abstract
This chapter considers four of the most influential visions that characterized the response to totalitarianism, and in particular the various concepts of limit they provide, since those are the basis of the opposition which each vision sought to oppose to the totalitarian ideal. The first vision is the positivist one of Karl Popper, for whom the logic of scientific method offers the only genuine knowledge of man and society. The second great vision is that of Berlin, who abandons positivism and instead presents the human condition in tragic terms, on the grounds that it is intrinsically characterized by a plurality of incommensurable and conflicting values. A third vision situates positivism in a naturalistic portrait of the human condition. Finally, there is the ‘civil’ vision of Michael Oakeshott, which is ultimately grounded in a radical, anti-reductionist conception of human freedom.
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