friedrich hayek the constitution of liberty

The competitive process of the market is seen as enhancing human cooperation and prosperity by providing a network of institutions that both bound human choice within the rule of law and enable market actors to freely express their preferences within those boundaries. Hayek’s more narrow work within economics furthers this larger notion of freedom. In some sense, this is the theme that underlies his life’s work: human cooperation, social order, and economic prosperity are only possible where human freedom is maximized, subject to the constraints of a legal and moral code that demarcate the realms of mine and thine. The demand for ‘liberation’ from these restraints is an attack on all liberty possible among human beings.” And perhaps most tellingly: “Freedom is order through law.” For Hayek, freedom is not the absolute liberty to do as one pleases, rather it is the recognition of the necessity of law and morality in order to ensure that human interaction is cooperative and orderly. Hayek’s conception is perhaps best captured by this note: “Restraint is a condition, not the opposite of freedom.” He expands on this idea: “The basis of freedom as well are the restraints commonly accepted by the members of the group in which the rules of morals prevail. Classical liberals should understand Hayek’s view of freedom, and its connection to tradition and the coordinating role of institutions, to avoid the problems that confront other conceptions of freedom. It is a nuanced and sophisticated conception of human freedom that differentiates itself from the ways the term is used by the left and the right. One theme that emerges in those cards, and that has been pervasive over Hayek’s career, is his understanding of freedom. It was fascinating to see how he wrote for himself and to get glimpses of ideas that would later be more fully fleshed out.

Hayek kept through the latter years of his life. A few years ago I had the opportunity to look through a transcription of a set of note cards that F.

Friedrich hayek the constitution of liberty