Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

MURRAY N. ROTHBARD VS. THE PHILOSOPHERS: UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS
40 ON HAYEK, MISES, STRAUSS, AND POLYANI
occurs when one man’s actions are made to serve another
man’s will, not for his own but for the other’s purpose.” 74
Hayek gave some examples to show clear cases of coercion;
for example, the case of dismissal or threat of dismissal
in periods of widespread unemployment, or in a mining
town where the only possible work is as a miner. However,
in Rothbard’s opinion, these cases do not demonstrate
coercion, since the mine owner is only exercising his legitimate
right of refusing “to make any further exchanges with
one or more people.” 75 Another example of coercion given
by Hayek was the case of the sole owner of a spring in an
oasis who forces the local inhabitants to accept arbitrary
conditions in order to obtain any water. Yet another possible
case is that of the only doctor available who, in the face of
a serious epidemic, refuses to treat any patients or requests
exorbitant fees. In these cases, Rothbard thought that the
subjects in question were simply exercising their own rights
of private property or their rights to choose whether to
engage in professional relations or not. Hayek nevertheless
maintains that these are cases in which coercive government
action would be justified in order to avoid a worse kind of
coercion. He considers that some goods and services are
essential for survival and therefore, “It is because these
services are regarded as rights to be counted upon that a
refusal to render them except on unusual terms is justly
regarded as a harmful alteration of the environment and
therefore as coercion.” 76
Hayek’s point is that in any case coercion
cannot be altogether avoided, because the only way
to prevent it is by the threat of coercion. Free society
has met this problem by conferring the monopoly
of coercion on the state and by attempting to
74 Hayek, Constitution of Liberty, pp. 20–21, 133.
75 Rothbard, The Ethics of Liberty, p. 220.
76 Hayek, Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, p. 350.