ABSTRACT
This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the concepts discussed in this book. The book shows how liberal, conservative, and socialist interpretations of political concepts are shaped by the analysis of other political concepts, as well as by commitments to rationalism or pluralism, collectivism or individualism, and views of human nature. It explores classical liberal analysis of negative liberty supports classical liberal suspicions about most forms of equality, how the notion of equally free people is the basis of its theory of justice, and how this leads to a certain view of political authority. The book also shows how the liberal, socialist, and conservative traditions form enduring, coherent views of politics and society, and discusses the internal diversity within each enduring theory. For Plato, justice involved the proper ordering of the collectivity, with one's rights and duties related to one's place in that collectivity; naturally enough, political authority ought to be invested in those who have the expert political knowledge.
