These essays examine the meaning given to the concept of liberty in selected

periods of Western history. They demonstrate that Western man, in the pursuit of liberty, has concerned himself in every historical epoch with this concept as he attempted to define, implement, and, most importantly, un

Contemporary conceptions of liberty, Carey argues, illustrate the full implication of Popper's notion of an open society, and are revealed in the relativism that characterizes contemporary American notions of morality, manners, responsibilities, and duties. For Carey, the U. S. Supreme Court has been the primary means by which our understanding of liberty has been turned away from the views of the Founders. The Court has constructed a "national standard" for free speech that provides only the weakest and ineffectual restraints on it, even as they developed a whole panoply of "rights" that include deviant behaviors and lifestyles. Society is even required to view each individual as a separate moral universe devoid of allegiance to any conception of the common good. This new definition of liberty flows naturally from the concept of equality. To assure this linkage governmental programs are created to achieve greater equality-primarily economic equality. This linkage of liberty and equality further defines the common good as best served by autonomous individuals who are permitted to act in conformance with their own notions of morality without reference to those of the community of which they are a part. In contrast, Carey observes, the Founders did not believe liberty should be so defined as to become detrimental to the common good. Liberty's value is anchored in virtue and protected by deliberative self-government. The Founders would reject utterly the contemporary view of free speech, for their commonsense view of the world and man's place in it, which required acceptance of his responsibilities and duties, rejects the view of individuals as isolated atoms who can be restrained only when they threaten physical harm to others.

liberal institutions." This legalism ignores the fact that liberal regimes are fostered by particularistic cultural traditions which sustain the liberal policies of a civil society. Talismanic ideas such as those presented in these various versions of liberalism cloud and distort a proper understanding of liberal thought, institutions, and practices. Gray asserts that "prudence and wisdom" require an abandonment of the classical liberal infatuation with a "universal...doctrine of liberty," and an understanding that the existence of "free peoples" is only one form of life among many alternatives that reflect complex and disparate cultural sources.

Such views were challenged by those who denied that liberty was a means by which men served ends that were properly human. Pico della Mirandola illustrates this "spirit of the Renaissance." He maintained that man is "liberated from superstitions and unnatural social restraints,...[and]...could recover the lost image of God within himself." Machiavelli identified liberty as man's self-assertion in the fulfillment of his own aspirations and desires. Both rejected the idea that liberty was to be used by men to accommodate themselves to a higher order. Rather, liberty allowed individuals to pursue their desires absent objective external measures of rightness or purpose.

Some common words found in the essay are:
Middle Ages, George Carey, Jeffrey Wallin, Founders Court, John Rawls, Fund Inc, Hayek Hayek, God Shakespeare, Roman Republic, Benjamin Constant, concept liberty, middle ages, human liberty, nineteenth century, pursuit liberty, idea liberty, act conformance, lecture series, examines concept liberty, liberty means, classical liberal, gray's essay provides, century issue slavery, nineteenth century issue, found antiquity middle,
Approximate Word count = 3079
Approximate Pages = 12 (250 words per page double spaced)