SOURCE: “Hayek on Liberty,” in Philosophy, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 145, October, 1963, pp. 346-60.

In the following review of Hayek's Constitution of Liberty, Rees favorably examines Hayek's distinction between fact-based, empirical liberalism and liberalism that is overly abstract and hence based on a false view of human nature.

Professor Hayek's book [Constitution of Liberty]¹ is a massive contribution to the persistent question of the limits of state action. It runs counter to prevailing notions about the role of government in economic and social matters to such an extent that a common reaction to its publication has been to simply shrug it off as eccentric or antediluvian. But the rarity of any fundamental discussion of our political ideals and the assumptions of our social policy ought of itself to ensure a wide welcome for a work that constitutes a formidable challenge to accepted standards in this realm. Unfortunately, opinions about its...