To state with precision and force the economic and moral imperative of the free market has been of the utmost concern to some of civilization’s foremost thinkers. From the early writings of the classical political economists and moral philosophers, to the most recent works of modem authors, the combined effect of these intellectual efforts has been the development of an argument displaying increased clarity, urgency, and polarization of theme.
Today, a defense of the open society finds its ultimate foundations based upon neither the vast material prosperity the market generates for members of society nor the many richly diverse moral and cultural institutions created under the tolerant liberty of the rule of law. Rather, its defense rests upon the very process by which these highly valued events were permitted to emerge.
