 On the other hand, in another sense it is false to say that he lacks a “political theory”. For he does have a “political theory” of a different, and arguably far more valuable, sort. First, consistently with his general empiricism, his position in political philosophy is deeply empirically informed. For instance, as can be seen from the Dissertation on the Reciprocal Influence of Government and the Sciences (1780), his thesis concerning the importance of freedom of thought and expression, and the competition between views that it makes possible, for producing intellectual progress is largely based on the positive historical example of ancient Greece, and in particular Athens, as contrasted with later societies, such as Rome, that lacked the freedom and competition in question and generated correspondingly weaker intellectual achievements. And in the 1792 draft of the Letters for the Advancement he even describes the French Revolution and its attempts to establish a modern democracy as a sort of “experiment” from which we can learn (for example, learn whether democracy can be successfully extended to nations that are much larger than ancient Athens).