ABSTRACT
A free society is like the republic of science, constituted by self-dedication to a set of distinctive beliefs. The republic of science is a specialised section of society, of both specific societies and the Great Society, and is not society at large. Michael Polanyi recognised that the republic of science is a voluntary society within and across bodies politic which new members do not voluntarily join at birth but into which, and into the principles of which, they are admitted and educated without reference to their wishes. Free society cannot be one that imposes a large body of highly specific beliefs, its authority cannot but be more specific than what Polanyi seems to allow. A free society cannot be dedicated only to freedom in the abstract nor be held together only by formal commitments. It necessarily has to be committed to a concrete freedom embodied in its own specific customs, laws, and institutions, which can change but only within limits.
