… is from page 124 of Paul Dragos Aligica’s, Peter Boettke’s, and Vlad Tarko’s 2019 book, Public Governance and the Classical-Liberal Perspective:
The goal is not to look for the best way to aggregate values into a single coherent system but instead to seek the best way in which heterogeneous, incommensurable, and incomparable values can coexist and if not enrich at least not undermine each other.
DBx: Beautifully said.
What is described here is a core goal of liberalism. The liberal understands that society can be peaceful and prosperous despite its members having different values. The liberal understands that attempts to compel everyone to possess – or, rather, to behave as if he or she possesses – the same values as everyone else in society is tyrannical. The liberal understands the meta-value of tolerance and the attitude of live and let live. Only the liberal understands what are the prerequisites for a society to be sustainably peaceful, prosperous, creative, and free.
