The constitution of liberty

Abstract

This book argues that freedom is primarily the absence of coercion by other people, and that this freedom is essential for the advance of civilization. This is because civilization is the product not of conscious design but of the unintended consequences of the actions of many people, and because any planned effort to change it is bound to fail, as it is impossible for any single mind to comprehend all of the information necessary for making intelligent decisions. It is therefore important to preserve a sphere of individual liberty within which people can experiment with new ideas and new methods of organizing social life without interference from others. While freedom will always require a framework of general rules of conduct and law, this framework must never be used to impose the will of any one individual or group on the rest. This means that the authority of government must be limited by general rules, such as the rule of law, and that no person or body of persons can have the power to grant exceptions to such rules. – AI-generated abstract