Innovation and the Public Good: On Understanding the Logic of Liberty

Abstract

Modern political theories, whatever their ideological contexts and aims, share a basic view: that innovation in politics and organisation is the characteristic feature which distinguishes the dynamic modern state from the static pre-modern one. The advent of the idea, and the ideal, of unlimited progress together with the extraordinary successes of modern technological development are responsible for this belief. Technological achievements and the corresponding Weltanschauung, considered respectively as the material and intellectual bases of our civilisation, have therefore directed modern political thought towards a conception of politics as incessant innovation. This has given rise to projects, more or less revolutionary, aiming at the creation of a new man and a new world, with both ultimately enjoying total liberty.