“If we wish to preserve a free society, it is essential that we recognize that the desirability of a particular object is not sufficient justification for the use of coercion.”
Tip: press → for another quote, C to copy, S to share.
We must face the fact that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice.
This means that to entrust to science - or to deliberate control according to scientific principles - more than scientific method can achieve may have deplorable effects.
Freedom granted only when it is known beforehand that its effects will be beneficial is not freedom.
He will therefore have to use what knowledge he can achieve, not to shape the results as the craftsman shapes his handiwork, but rather to cultivate a growth by providing the appropriate environment, in the manner in which the gardener does this for his plants.