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

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LAW AND NATURE IN THE WORK OF MURRAY N. ROTHBARD 45 without maintaining government schools, by giving the parents vouchers covering the costs of education for each child which they could hand over to schools of their choice. It may still be desirable that government directly provide schools in a few isolated communities where the number of children is too small. . . . But with respect to the great majority of the population, it would undoubtedly be possible to leave the organization and management of education entirely to private efforts, with the government providing merely the basic finance and ensuring a minimum standard for all schools where the vouchers could be spent. 84 These ideas are included on Rothbard’s list of Hayek’s partisan biases at the end of Rothbard’s review, “Letter on The Constitution of Liberty by F.A. von Hayek.” For this anarcho-capitalist, these are positions he cannot share, since, in his opinion, any public funding—and indeed anything pertaining to the state—should simply cease to exist. Thus, for Rothbard, Hayek has not reached the target of establishing and defending liberty. The principle of the rule of law is itself too vague a concept and in any case insufficient as a principle on which to base the defense of liberty. For Hayek, the rule of law is the principal instrument with which to defend individual liberty. He explains that, “the rule of law constitutes a limitation on the powers of all government, including the powers of the legislature.” 85 For the rule of law to prevail in a society, each law must meet certain basic requirements: it has to be general and abstract, known and certain and, lastly, it has to be the same for all. The function of the rule of law is to create the conditions within which individuals can act freely and follow their own goals on the basis of their own knowledge. Hayek feels that, “the task of the lawgiver is not to set up a particular order 84Ibid., pp. 378, 381. 85Ibid., p. 205.
MURRAY N. ROTHBARD VS. THE PHILOSOPHERS: UNPUBLISHED WRITINGS 46 ON HAYEK, MISES, STRAUSS, AND POLYANI but merely to create conditions in which an orderly arrangement can establish and ever renew itself.” 86 Hayek’s response to Ronald Hamowy’s criticisms provides a useful explanation of the function of the rule of law: It is the distinguishing mark of the Western political tradition that . . . coercion has been confined to instances where it is required by general abstract rules, known beforehand and equally applicable to all . . . combined with the requirement that such general rules authorizing coercion could be justified only by the general purpose of preventing worse coercion . . . this principle seems to be as effective a method of minimizing coercion as mankind has yet discovered. It seems to me the best protection yet devised against that administrative despotism which is the greatest danger to individual liberty today. 87 ROBERTA A. MODUGNO 86Ibid., p. 161. 87Hayek, Studies in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, p. 350. Hayek responds to Hamowy’s article mentioned above, “Hayek’s Concept of Freedom: A Critique.”
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CHRONOLOGY OF THE LIFE AND WORKS OF
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REFERENCES 1 Buckley, William F. Go
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 151 BIB
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 153 Dav
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REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY 155 giv
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“Absolutes, Relativism, and the S
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INDEX 161 environment, 123-24 Essay
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INDEX 163 Jesuits, 24 judges, 69 ju
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INDEX 165 Oriental Despotism (Wittf
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INDEX 167 Socrates, 26n42 solidarit
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Murray N. Rothbard vs. the Philosophers - Ludwig von Mises Institute

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