is the case some other method may be found. An example given by Hayek is the signposts on the roads or in most circumstances every individual user cannot pay for the roads themselves. Nor can the effects of deforestation or the smoke and pollution from factories be confined to the owner of each property in question. (17) Here the necessity for some sort of regulation is evident. A common argument presented by many who promote collectivism as the deliberate organization of the labors of society for a single goal. And the free competitive system lacks any mindful direction toward an aim, and its activities are controlled by the whims and fancies of rapacious individuals. The ‘common good’ or ‘general welfare,’ for which society is to be organized in a socialists mind does not take much to see the welfare of a nation of people cannot be summed into a single idea. The welfare of people, like the happiness of man, depends on a great many things. (18). Hayek believes that in order to direct all our activities on a single plan assumes that every one of our needs and desires be given a rank in order of its value to that plan. The plan assumes the existence of an ‘ethical code’ by which all-human values are given their place. Hayek clearly believes as I do that no such code can exist without the need for an arbitrary authority. Based on the impossibility of such an ethical code Hayek puts forth what I believe is his theory on the nature of man is. This is an area of political and economic philosophy that is great cause for debate. I do believe however that Hayeks idea is one of the most compelling I have read. There is a minor importance placed on whether the ends of a person are based on his own needs, or whether they include the needs of others. In other words, whether the individual is egoistic or altruistic. The important point is the basic fact that it is impossibl...
