Friedrich von Hayek's Views on Morality
Abstract
The article aims to present and analyze the views of F.A. von Hayek on morality (gathered from his various works) and show their meaning for discussion in political philosophy and ethics. It is worth taking up the topic to develop the axiological thought of Hayek, an outstanding thinker whose views are crystallized, coherent, and original. His reflections have the potential to contribute a lot to debates about values, but they either are not known well enough or are wrongly overlooked. In the first part of the considerations, the aim is to explain how, according to Hayek, morality supports individual freedom, and thus the central value in his axiology: society is equipped with morality (along with positive law) to maintain order with a minimum of coercion (the essence of the order of freedom). The second chapter discusses the types of morality distinguished by Hayek. It shows how they complement each other and constitute the moral tradition. These are sets of rules founding, on the one hand, the natural order (its norms correspond to the instinctive attitudes rightly expressed in small communities) and, on the other hand, the extended order (the norms associated with it are not in line with instincts, they regulate the coexistence of strangers entering into anonymous relationships within large societies). In the third chapter, there are Hayek’s views on the justification of the norms of traditional morality presented. In particular, it is about developing the view that accepting moral principles by society is essential to sustaining a libertarian society, regardless of whether we have a satisfactory rationale for them. The final part of the considerations shows the importance of Hayek’s concept of morality in the field of political thought with which Hayek is associated (individualism, liberalism, conservatism), as well as for metaethics (an attempt to recreate the principles constitutive of civilization; a voice in the discussion between the impartial and partisan perspective in ethics).
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