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Revolution of Reason: Peter Gray, the Enlightenment, and the Ambiguities of Classical Liberalism

The Journal of Libertarian Studies

Tags World History

07/30/2014Chris R. Tame

In his seminal essay "Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty", Professor Rothbard delineated a libertarian interpretation of history, an interpretation which saw the larger part of humanity's existence on earth before the 18th Century as dominated by a distinctive "Old Order". Whether in the form of the primitive tribe, Oriental despotism or feudalism, the Old Order was a "society of status" distinguished by tyranny, fixed class or caste, exploitation, stagnation and hopelessness. It is indeed significant, as we shall see, that this interpretation is at once both a libertarian and, as Karl Popper has put it, a rationalistic one

Volume 1, Number 3 (1977)

Author:

Chris R. Tame

Chris R. Tame is with the Institute of Economic Affairs, 2 Lord North St. in Westminster, London.

Cite This Article

Tame, Chris R. "Revolution of Reason: Peter Gray, the Enlightenment, and the Ambiguities of Classical Liberalism." Journal of Libertarian Studies 1, No.3 (1977): 217-227.