Posted on 01/28/2007 9:29:00 AM PST by Jacquerie
An exceptional book, though not exactly light reading.
This book is a must read IMHO. It puts the entire economic/class/welfare question into its true perspective.
Thank you for posting this. Unfortunately, it seems that we are going to learn of the grim consequences of socialist policy, the hard way.
If I recall correctly when you read this book keep in mind the terms liberal and conservative are flipped from their current meaning.
The liberal thought of the day was personal freedom and personal responsibility and the conservative (ie. traditional) thought was the class based system with government both taking care of the peasantry and defining their role in society.
I'd put it on the "must" reading list, not just on the the "recommended" list.
Worth repeating.
Perhaps someday it will sink in to the masses.
BTT I'll look for it. Thanks for posting.
Found this quote from the book in Wikipedia: "The principle that the end justifies the means is in individualist ethics regarded as the denial of all morals. In collectivist ethics it becomes necessarily the supreme rule."
I didn't know about this book until this post on FR . . . now I may have to find a copy and read it.
The unfortunate thing is that by the time we reach that point, we will already have gone past the point of no return.
The Road to Serfdom gives eyes to the oppressed. I'd have to read it again for signs that teach us freedom.
He was right when everyone said he was wrong, and ridiculed him (and worse) for it.
JMO
Austrian. He spent the duration of WWII in England. His background gave him a unique perspective on Germany. The British thought their enemy was inherently evil ie it was the German's genetic/cultural makeup.
Hayek primary thesis was that what happened in Nazi Germany could happen anywhere - it was just the end result of socialism. That is, while collectivism always results in loss of freedom, its greater danger was that it always leads to national socialism (Nazism) - no matter where it's puts into place.
Is there anything more disorienting than taking Economics 101? Skip it and read Von Mises and Hayek instead.
I have arrived at the conviction that the neglect by economists to discuss seriously what is really the crucial problem of our time is due to a certain timidity about soiling their hands by going from purely scientific questions into value questions. This is a belief deliberately maintained by the other side because if they admitted that the issue is not a scientific question, they would have to admit that their science is antiquated and that, in academic circles, it occupies the position of astrology and not one that has any justification for serious consideration in scientific discussion. It seems to me that socialists today can preserve their position in academic economics merely by the pretense that the differences are entirely moral questions about which science cannot decide. Conversation at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, Washington, D.C. (9 February 1978); published in A Conversation with Friedrich A. Von Hayek: Science and Socialism (1979)
A really great book. Hayek was from Austria, not England
see:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Hayek
One small point. Although Hayek taught for years at the London School of Economics, he was by birth Viennese.
Along with Ludwig von Mises, he was an early exponent of the Austrian school of economic thought. After important early work in economics, he broadened his field of work and wrote on politics and social policy as well.
His last great work, The Fatal Conceit, dates from 1988.
One small point. Although Hayek taught for years at the London School of Economics, he was by birth Viennese.
Along with Ludwig von Mises, he was an early exponent of the Austrian school of economic thought. After important early work in economics, he broadened his field of work and wrote on politics and social policy as well.
His last great work, The Fatal Conceit, dates from 1988.
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