I have finished the last chapter of the second edition of The Mechanics of Freedom, from 1989. Only the relatively fresh chapters of the third edition, published in 2015, remain. The chapter is strange and looks like a bit of an off-topic addition to this book, because instead of the mechanics of freedom, it tells about a little-known author of detective stories from the beginning of the 20th century – G.K. Chesterton. The ending of the first edition seemed somewhat more logical, in my opinion, and as it stands, this chapter looks like a kind of expanded appendix to the book.

The review describes what a great man Chesterton was, a true old-school liberal who successfully combined this with Catholicism and a certain indifference toward Jews. This is probably interesting to connoisseurs of Chesterton, and I generally like the stories about Father Brown — but, in my view, this chapter is redundant in The Mechanics of Freedom.

Next, I will give you a break from Friedman for a while and switch to Molinism.