Our submission to general principles is necessary because we cannot be guided in our practical action by full knowledge and evaluation of the consequences. So long as men are not omniscient, the only way in which freedom can be given to the individual is by such general rules to delimit the sphere in which the decision is his. There can be no freedom if the government is not limited to particular kinds of action but can use its powers in any ways which serve particular ends.
Interpretation
This quote highlights the importance of general principles in guiding individual freedom within society, given our limited knowledge of consequences.
Friedrich August Von Hayek argues that in a world where humans lack complete knowledge, the existence of freedom for individuals relies on the implementation of general rules that define the boundaries of government action. Without such limitations, freedom cannot exist, as the government could potentially act in any manner that satisfies its particular interests, thereby infringing on individual liberty.
In practice
This quote can be used in a discussion about the role of government in a democratic society.
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.
Just like all great stories, our fears focus our attention on a question that is as important in life as it is in literature: What will happen next?
Human history began as an act of disobedience, and it is not unlikely that it will be terminated by an act of obedience. At this point in history the capacity to doubt, to criticize and to disobey may be all that stands between a future for mankind and the end of civilization.
Self-realization and self-fulfilment are the sine qua non for human existence.
We've placed a lot of emphasis in this country on the idea of people's rights. That's how it should be, but it makes no sense to talk about rights without also talking about responsibilities.
Those who forget good and evil and seek only to know the facts are more likely to achieve good than those who view the world through the distorting medium of their own desires.
No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.