Commentary
Isaiah Berlin and Friedrich Hayek were both knights of classical liberalism in the 20th century—an age dominated by statism. Scholarly work has often focused on the differences in their views on liberty. Their contrasting definitions of liberty are significant for anyone interested in liberal theory. In a famous 1958 lecture, Berlin distinguished between positive and negative liberty. Negative liberty, in his view, is the absence of obstacles to human action, whereas positive liberty is the freedom to act on one’s will and pursue one’s goals. Hayek, on the other hand, defined liberty as the absence of arbitrary coercion and “independence of the arbitrary will of another.” They also differed in their views on the importance of economic freedom. For example, Berlin, in his letters, criticized Hayek for placing too much emphasis on economic freedom.
