We must face the act that the preservation of individual freedom is incompatible with a full satisfaction of our views of distributive justice.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Hayek asserts that protecting individual freedom conflicts with fully satisfying distributive justice goals.
- In plain terms
- You cannot have total individual freedom and total fair distribution of wealth at the same time.
- What can you take from it?
- Individual liberty and perfect distributive justice are incompatible goals.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Which value should take precedence?
- Can freedom and justice be reconciled?
Another view
Some measures can expand both freedom and equity depending on definitions.
More from Friedrich Hayek
There is all the difference in the world between treating people equally and attempting to make them equal. While the first is the condition of a free society,…
Permalink to quote #40 This is not a dispute about whether planning is to be done or not. It is a dispute as to whether planning is to be done centrally, by one authority for the who…
Permalink to quote #42 The peculiar character of the problem of a rational economic order is determined precisely by the fact that the knowledge of the circumstances of which we must…
Permalink to quote #39
Related quotes
I ask no favors for my sex. I surrender not our claim to equality. All I ask of our brethren is, that they will take their feet from off our necks, and permit …
Sarah GrimkeSarah Grimke quote #5 The Constitution is a delusion and a snare if the weakest and humblest man in the land cannot be defended in his right to speak and his right to think as much …
Clarence DarrowClarence Darrow quote #6 It is a clear truth that those who every day barter away other men's liberty will soon care little for their own.
James OtisJames Otis quote #8