Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom – 25th Session

December 29, 2020 (Tue), 25th session

The Road to Serfdom Reading Discussion 25th Online Meeting: Morey, Dandy

Chapter 11. The End of Truth

Because the world is a place where we live together with others,

it is always said to be right that

we should think of you before me, and of us before you,

as we live our lives.

To create such a world, we must strive

and work hard,

teach it to our children and pass it down,

so that all humanity may endure

peacefully and equally.

Let us do our utmost for that.

Living this way may not be easy,

but this kind of life is the right life,

a truly human life, so let all of us together

lay down our selfishness and, for humanity,

make a better world.

At first glance, words like these may seem correct,

but they are also wrong, because each person’s happiness is as diverse as the number of individuals,

and differs according to each person’s character.

What does it mean to think of “us” first?

What does it mean to strive to create such a world,

and by what methods would that be done?

What is a truly human life?

What kind of condition is meant by

peace and equality?

Ultimately,

what is a right life?

Those who do not tilt their heads in doubt—

could it be that

something has already been

incepted into them by someone else?

In order to realize plans that would require

a complete understanding of human nature

and the inner ethics and morality accumulated

through the long process of evolution,

socialists inject all kinds of

propaganda into our minds.

Sometimes by force, sometimes semi-coercively,

deploying every kind of ornate phrase,

so that even people who at first thought,

“This doesn’t seem quite right...

I feel like I need to think more deeply about this...”

are gradually brainwashed

and made to follow those ideas

blindly.

In the past, individual liberty was enjoyed as a natural right,

earned by fulfilling one’s own duties and responsibilities.

But this is replaced

by fulfilling duties and responsibilities toward

the new value of a “better us,”

and even free scholarship based on liberty

comes to be occupied and circulated only by scholarship

aimed at a better condition for “us,” for humanity,

or for some particular group.

Freedom of individual thought and belief disappears,

and only the beautiful world

of living together becomes the aim of the masses.

So that the masses themselves

will voluntarily strive and work hard

to build socialism,

the propaganda continues without end.

“A world where people live,” “People come first”—like that.

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Original title: 하이에크 <노예의 길>-25차

Author: Jayujuui ipmun dokseotoronmoim

Date: 2020-12-29

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=reading01&pn=6&idx=23394