Liberty and Property.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

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Liberty and Property 33VRomantic philosophy laboredunder the illusion that in the earlyages of history the individual was freeand that the course of historical evolutiondeprived him of his primordial liberty.As Jean Jacques Rousseau saw it, natureaccorded men freedom and society enslavedhim. In fact, primeval man was at the mercyof every fellow who was stronger and thereforecould snatch away from him the scarcemeans of subsistence. There is in naturenothing to which the name of liberty couldbe given. The concept of freedom alwaysrefers to social relations between men. True,society cannot realize the illusory conceptof the individual’s absolute independence.Within society everyone depends on whatother people are prepared to contribute to33
34Liberty and Propertyhis well-being in return for his own contributionto their well-being. Society is essentiallythe mutual exchange of services. Asfar as individuals have the opportunity tochoose, they are free; if they are forced byviolence or threat of violence to surrenderto the terms of an exchange, no matter howthey feel about it, they lack freedom. Thisslave is unfree precisely because the masterassigns him his tasks and determines whathe has to receive if he fulfills it.As regards the social apparatus of repressionand coercion, the government, therecannot be any question of freedom. Governmentis essentially the negation of liberty. Itis the recourse to violence or threat of violencein order to make all people obey theorders of the government, whether they likeit or not. As far as the government’s jurisdictionextends, there is coercion, not freedom.Government is a necessary institution,the means to make the social system ofcooperation work smoothly without beingdisturbed by violent acts on the part of
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Liberty and Property.pdf - The Ludwig von Mises Institute

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