Sowell begins his analysis of visions by quoting Walter Lippmann's astute observation: "At the heart of every moral code there is a picture of human nature, a map of the universe and a version of history. To human nature (as it is conceived), in a universe (as we imagine it), after a story (as it is understood), the rules of the code apply. Sowell argues that social visions differ in their fundamental conceptions of the nature of man: "The capacities and limitations of man are implicitly seen in radically different terms by those whose explicit philosophical, political, or social theories are constructed on different visions. » According to Sowell, proponents of different views conceive “[t]he moral and mental nature of man…so differently that their respective conceptions of knowledge and institutions necessarily differ also. Social causality itself is conceived differently, both mechanically and