Page "Frank Meyer (political philosopher)" Paragraph 29

It was the classical liberal F. A. Hayek in “ Freedom, Reason and Tradition ” who most systematically and relentlessly pursued the nature of a libertarian / traditionalist synthesis but was loath to give it a label.

He began by distinguishing between two views of human reason, a speculative / rationalistic / utopian and an empirical / evolutionary / institutional one, which was “ particularly conspicuous ” in their different assumptions about human nature.

The former viewed intelligence and goodness as natural to individual man while the latter argued that institutions must be created so that “ bad people could do least harm .” While not arguing for this on religious grounds, he acknowledged his empirical position was “ closer to the Christian tradition of the fallibility and sinfulness of man, while the perfectionism of the rationalist is in irreconcilable conflict with it ”.