manipulation and gift

As previously mentioned, Alastair MacIntyre, in his seminal work After Virtue, discusses the necessarily unscientific nature of the ‘human sciences’.  Because, among other things, of the element of unknowability in human decision-making, sweeping and definite predictions regarding social phenomena usually prove futile.  Similarly, in his remembrance of Robert McNamara, George Will notes that both foreign and domestic policy are remarkably averse to technocratic manipulation because of the human factor.  Pointing out that both liberals and neo-conservatives have remarkable (and unfounded) faith in their ability to manipulate human societies, Will attacks the notion of linear historical progression.  As a result of their scepticism of such liberal promises, paleo-conservatives and contemporary theologians alike will inevitably be vindicated time and again by history’s surprises.  Such skeptics are right to doubt the capacity (as well as the morality) of large-scale social engineering; among these two groups, the theologians, however, tend more so to retain faith, hope, and love as enduring (though not linearly progressing) realities.  In this way, skepticism regarding liberal promises should be balanced with belief in transcendental realities.