Book Forum 

# *The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature*

(HarperCollins, 2010)

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/a65c18ea-c0eb-4dcd-8c15-2bcb23538d23/c0981bb2-aae6-4179-90b5-313c615af31e/main.mp4) 

[ 

Video 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2010/cbf-02-24-10.mp4) 

[ 

Audio 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2010/cbfa-02-24-10.mp3) 

Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoEvents](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoEvents). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Date and Time 

February 24, 2010 1 - 3 PM EST 

Location 

Auditorium/Wintergarden 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Featuring the author, **Timothy Ferris**, with comments by **Jason Kuznicki**, Research Fellow, Cato Institute; and **Jonathan Rauch**, Contributing editor, the *Atlantic Monthly*, and visiting scholar, The Brookings Institution. Moderated by **Brink Lindsey**, Vice President for Research, Cato Institute. 

[[![The Science of Liberty: Democracy, Reason, and the Laws of Nature](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/optimized/public/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/138620933958/science_of_liberty_130.jpg?itok=SKDkqYPQ)](/sites/cato.org/files/download-remote-images/www.cato.org/138620933958/science_of_liberty_130.jpg)](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060781505/?tag=catoinstitute-20) 
[Purchase book](http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060781505/?tag=catoinstitute-20)

Award-winning author Timothy Ferris discusses the relationship between science and liberal government, arguing that the fortunes of science and liberty rise and fall together. The scientific revolutions of the 17th and 18th centuries were, he argues, a powerful inspiration for the concurrent revolutions in government; together, they produced what we know as the modern world.

It was no accident that many of the American revolutionaries were also successful scientists, and it is no accident that today’s liberal societies produce vastly more scientific research than their dictatorial counterparts. In a book that spans centuries of world history, Ferris observes how scientific reasoning depends on open inquiry, free dissent, and the freedom to innovate. Liberal government, he says, enshrines these very virtues as well.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).