The constitution of freedom
The Constitution of Freedom is a book by the Austrian economist and social philosopher Friedrich August von Hayek .
First published in 1960 by the University of Chicago Press, the book is an interpretation of civilization as made possible by the basic principles of freedom that the author sees as a prerequisite for prosperity and growth - rather than the other way around.
In the first part of this probably the most important work by the Nobel Prize laureate, it offers a comprehensive systematic presentation of the essential principles of a liberal social philosophy, the basis for the development of European civilization over the past centuries. The second part deals with the emergence of the constitutional principles of the rule of law and their importance for safeguarding personal freedom. In the third part, Hayek shows how, with the emergence of the welfare state, important principles of the rule of law are violated and personal freedom threatens to be destroyed. He illustrates this with illuminating examples from the areas of trade unions and employment, social security, taxation and redistribution, agriculture and natural resources, education and research.
reception
The Constitution of Liberty was ranked ninth on National Review magazine's list of 100 Best Non-Fiction Books of the Twentieth Century .
Press reviews
“In his life's work, which is based on a profound knowledge of many disciplines (economics, law, history, biology and psychology), the great polymath of European tradition, Nobel Prize laureate in economics in 1974, persistently pursued the idea that individual freedom alone is the preserve and ensure the advancement of civilization. In it he laid more than a stumbling block for the zeitgeist. ”Wilhelm Seuss, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of May 8, 1989