ABSTRACT

The restatement of liberalism in the twentieth century has consisted mostly of a set of negative arguments against socialism and other collectivisms, which have shown that they are impossible, destructive of society, subversive of law and rights and liable to corruption. The case for a liberal social order has consequently been that it is the only possible and desirable alternative. The chapter discusses two types of positive argument for a social order of competences and immunities: that it is what people like and want, and that it embodies universal ideals or principles of conduct. It considers von Mises's sceptical utilitarian arguments for liberty as a contemporary example of "suspended logic", which Michael Polanyi sought to overcome, and they mostly fall into the former class. The relation between utilitarianism and any political system is inevitably problematic because of the substitutability and disposability of mere means, unless the category of foundation-value is sharply distinguished, as it rarely is, from that of instrumentality.