Dag Einar Thorsen on Berlin, Popper

The Politics of Freedom A Study of the Political Thought of Isaiah Berlin and Karl Popper, and of the Challenge of Neoliberalism Dag Einar Thorsen Ph.D. Thesis DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE, UNIVERSITY OF OSLO 2011 © Dag Einar Thorsen, 2012 Series of dissertations submitted to the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Oslo No. 315 ISSN 1504-3991 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without permission. Cover: Inger Sandved Anfinsen. Printed in Norway: AIT Oslo AS. Produced in co-operation with Unipub, Oslo. The thesis is produced by Unipub merely in connection with the thesis defence. Kindly direct all inquiries regarding the thesis to the copyright holder or the unit which grants the doctorate. Table of Contents PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. VII 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE ........................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 QUESTIONS AND OUTLINE ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.3 BERLIN, POPPER, AND LIBERAL DEMOCRACY ......................................................................................... 7 1.3.1 From ethics and epistemology to political theory ....................................................................... 7 1.3.2 Liberalism ................................................................................................................................. 11 1.3.3 Utopianism ................................................................................................................................ 15 1.4 A NOTE ON METHOD IN POLITICAL THEORY .......................................................................................... 18 1.4.1 A discipline divided ................................................................................................................... 18 1.4.2 Towards a method for political theory? .................................................................................... 25 1.4.3 The methods employed in this thesis ......................................................................................... 33 PART I: ISAIAH BERLIN ............................................................................................................................. 39 2. ISAIAH BERLIN – PLURALISM, LIBERTY, AND REALISM ...................................................... 41 2.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 41 2.2 PLURALISM .......................................................................................................................................... 43 2.2.1 What is value pluralism?........................................................................................................... 45 2.2.2 Value pluralism before Berlin ................................................................................................... 50 2.2.3 Philosophical pluralism ............................................................................................................ 55 2.2.4 Political pluralism .................................................................................................................... 57 2.3 LIBERTY, REALISM AND THE UNEASY EQUILIBRIUM ............................................................................. 59 2.3.1 Positive and negative liberty ..................................................................................................... 59 2.3.2 Realism in politics and political theory .................................................................................... 64 2.3.3 The uneasy equilibrium ............................................................................................................. 67 2.4 SOME PRELIMINARY CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 71 3. CRITICISMS OF BERLIN’S POLITICAL THOUGHT ................................................................... 74 3.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................... 74 3.2 RAWLS AND DWORKIN ......................................................................................................................... 76 3.2.1 Rawls: Against intuitionism ...................................................................................................... 76 3.2.2 Dworkin: Against pluralism ...................................................................................................... 80 3.3 GRAY: PLURALISM WITHOUT LIBERALISM ........................................................................................... 83 3.4 FORMAL AND MATERIAL FREEDOM ...................................................................................................... 86 3.5 LIBERAL PLURALISM ............................................................................................................................ 90 3.5.1 Crowder: Pluralism and liberalism reconciled ........................................................................ 90 3.5.2 Galston: Liberal pluralism and practical politics ..................................................................... 93 iii 3.6 PLURALISM AND POLITICS .................................................................................................................... 96 3.7 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................ 99 PART II: KARL POPPER ............................................................................................................................ 103 4. KARL POPPER – KNOWLEDGE, OPENNESS, AND DEMOCRACY ....................................... 105 4.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 105 4.2 SCIENCE AND THE GROWTH OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE ......................................................................... 108 4.2.1 Early problems ........................................................................................................................ 108 4.2.2 Two fundamental problems of human understanding ............................................................. 110 4.2.3 The poverty of historicism ....................................................................................................... 113 4.2.4 From epistemology to political theory .................................................................................... 116 4.3 THE MORALITY OF CRITICAL RATIONALISM........................................................................................ 117 4.3.1 Negative utilitarianism ............................................................................................................ 117 4.3.2 The humanitarian theory of justice ......................................................................................... 121 4.4 THE POLITICS OF CRITICAL RATIONALISM .......................................................................................... 123 4.4.1 Rationality, freedom, and democracy ..................................................................................... 123 4.4.2 Political protectionism and ‘planning for freedom’ ................................................................ 127 4.4.3 Organised liberalism from Bernstein to Popper ..................................................................... 130 4.5 EARLY CONCLUSIONS ......................................................................................................................... 134 5. ANALYSES OF POPPER’S POLITICAL THOUGHT ................................................................... 137 5.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 137 5.2 MAGEE: POPPER, THE RELUCTANT SOCIALIST .................................................................................... 140 5.3 SHEARMUR: POPPER, THE ENIGMATIC LIBERTARIAN .......................................................................... 144 5.4 POPPER, THE INCURABLE MODERATE ................................................................................................. 149 5.4.1 Stokes: political eclecticism .................................................................................................... 149 5.4.2 Eidlin: Popper, the moderate socialist .................................................................................... 152 5.5 POPPER’S POLITICAL THOUGHT IN ACTION ......................................................................................... 155 5.5.1 James: Reason and public life................................................................................................. 155 5.5.2 Schmidt: The defence of freedom and pragmatism ................................................................. 158 5.6 THE POLITICS OF CRITICAL RATIONALISM .......................................................................................... 161 5.7

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