Hayek and the Equality of Inequality:

1
Hayek and the Equality of Inequality The Only
Kind of Justice Consistent with Liberty
Andrew Austin ? 2009
2
The Road to Serfdom (1944) The Constitution of
Liberty (1960)
F.A. Hayek (1899-1992)
Austrian School of Economics
Ludwig von Mises
Carl Menger
Milton Friedman
With Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.
3
Formal equality
Any law passed should apply equally to every
person regardless of individual
characteristics. No person should enjoy
preferential treatment. The state should show no
prejudice or bias. Equal treatmentlaws must be
applied identically in identical situations.
Substantive equalitythe state plays a role in
achieving equality of outcome. To do so, the
state takes account of individual difference.
Hayek opposes this.
F.A. Hayek
Equality of the general rules of law and conduct
is the only kind of equality conducive to liberty
and the only equality which we can secure without
destroying liberty.
4
Liberty
Libertythe possibility of a person acting
according to his own decisions and plans, in
contrast to the position of one who was
irrevocably subject to the will of another, who
by arbitrary decision could coerce him to act or
not to act in specific ways. Inequality is the
necessary result of liberty. Inequality is part
of the justification of individual liberty.
Questions Are inequality and difference the same
things? Are equality and sameness synonymous?
The state in which a man is not subject to
coercion by the arbitrary will of another or
others is often distinguished as individual or
personal freedom.
5
Humans different therefore unequal
Hayek rejects assumption of inherent equality
among human beings. Individuals not equal,
because each different from next. Social
Darwinianbiological constitution, not social
arrangements, plays primary role in determining
position in social life. Superior biology leads
to superior quality of material
life. Environmental factors do have impact on
individual development. Better manner of
livingstable prosperous families, educational
institutionsmakes for better people. But, for
the most part, biology is destiny.
Survival of the Fittest
William Graham Sumner
Herbert Spencer
6
Origins of Social Darwinism
Adam Smith
Stephen Jay Gould Click on picture for video
Charles Darwin
7
Hayeks clever conflation of difference and
inequality
We are all different
But Difference ? Inequality
Equality takes its etymological root from the
Latin word aequus which means level, flat, even,
balanced and uniform, says Sargisson. To differ
is to be unlike, to be nonidentical or
dissimilar. Equality is the quality of being
similar in quantity, measure, value, or status.
Sameness is to be identical, to conform in every
detail.
Lucy Sargisson
8
NOTHING IS MORE DAMAGING TO THE DEMAND FOR EQUAL
TREATMENT THAN TO BASE IT ON SO OBVIOUSLY UNTRUE
AN ASSUMPTION AS THAT OF THE FACTUAL EQUALITY OF
ALL MEN.
Difference?
The claim is tautological (in the rhetorical
sense)that is, it rests on circular reasoning
People are successful because they are
biologically superior. And we know they are
biologically superior because they are
successful. The argument from necessity
constitutes an illegitimate teleology.