"I wish neither to deny reason the power to improve norms and institutions nor even to insist that it is incapable of recasting the whole of our moral system in the direction now commonly conceived as 'social justice'. We can do so, however, only by probing every part of a system of morals. If such a morality pretends to be able to do something that it cannot possibly do, e.g., to fulfill a knowledge-generating and organisational function that is impossible under its own rules and norms, then this impossibility itself provides a decisive rational criticism of that moral system. It is important to confront these consequences, for the notion that, in the last resort, the whole debate is a matter of value judgements and not of facts has prevented professional students of the market order from stressing forcibly enough that socialism cannot possibly do what it promises."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Friedrich Hayek, The Fatal Conceit (1988)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Social_justice
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Social justice
26 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Social justice →
Related Quotes
"We are fighting to impose a higher social justice. The others are fighting to maintain the privileges of caste and cl…"
"Fascism establishes the real equality of individuals before the nation… the object of the regime in the economic fiel…"
"We've been talking mainly about the problem of social justice within one society. The problem is much more difficult …"
"Islam prescribes the bases of social justice. It insures that the poor have claims on the possessions of the rich, an…"
"Contesting power [...] is inevitable in the pursuit of justice and dignity for the marginalised and excluded."
"At this moment, when the foundational values that defined the 20th century are under stress and the social contract i…"
"'But whom do I treat unjustly,' you say, 'by keeping what is my own?' Tell me, what is your own? What did you bring i…"
"This is the beginning of a social movement in fact and not in pronouncements. We seek our basic, God-given rights as …"
"We are suffering. We have suffered, and we are not afraid to suffer in order to win our cause. We have suffered unnum…"
"Society should treat all equally well who have deserved equally well of it, that is, who have deserved equally well a…"