All political theories assume, of course, that most individuals are very ignorant. Those who plead for liberty differ from the rest in that they include among the ignorant themselves as well as the wisest. Compared with the totality of knowledge which is continually utilized in the evolution of a dynamic civilization, the difference between the knowledge that the wisest and that the most ignorant individual can deliberately employ is comparatively insignificant.
Interpretation
This quote suggests that both the wise and the ignorant lack comprehensive knowledge, emphasizing the inherent limitations in human understanding.
Friedrich August Von Hayek's quote reflects on the nature of knowledge within society, asserting that political theories often overlook the common ignorance of individuals, irrespective of their perceived intelligence. He argues that those advocating for liberty recognize that true wisdom lies in acknowledging the limits of one's own understanding, highlighting that even the most knowledgeable individuals can only grasp a tiny fraction of the vast sea of knowledge that contributes to societal development. This perspective promotes humility and the need for broader dialogue across varying levels of knowledge.
In practice
In a speech about the value of open-mindedness in political discussion.
What our generation has forgotten is that the system of private property is the most important guarantee of freedom, not only for those who own property, but scarcely less for those who do not. It is only because the control of the means of production is divided among many people acting independently that nobody has complete power over us, that we as individuals can decide what to do with ourselves.
The curious task of economics is to demonstrate to men how little they really know about what they imagine they can design.
It is only because the majority opinion will always be opposed by some that our knowledge and understanding progress... it is always from a minority acting in ways different from what the majority would prescribe that the majority in the end learns to do better.
Fascism is the stage reached after communism has proved an illusion.
It is because freedom means the renunciation of direct control of individual efforts that a free society can make use of so much more knowledge than the mind of the wisest ruler could comprehend.
The importance of our being free to do a particular thing has nothing to do with the question of whether we or the majority are ever likely to make use of that particular possibility. To grant no more freedom than all can exercise would be to misconceive its function completely. The freedom that will be used by only one man in a million may be more important to society and more beneficial to the majority than any freedom that we all use.
People hear 'Africa' and they think about charitable commercials, or safari tours and animals. It's our responsibility to help change that perspective.
Not only do words infect, egotize, narcotize, and paralyze, but they enter into and colour the minutest cells of the brain. . . .
Utility is the great idol of the age, to which all powers must do service and all talents swear allegiance.
Heaven truly knows that thou art false as hell.
If Christianity is untrue, then no honest man will want to believe it, however helpful it might be; if it is true, every honest man will want to believe it, even if it gives him no help at all
A true worshipper is one whose mind has not been defiled with any false belief.
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