Zwang als Grundübel in der Gesellschaft?

The basic concept of classical liberalism is a concept of negative freedom: freedom as an absence of coercion. But what is coercion? Why is coercion regarded as evil from the perspective of freedom? Friedrich A. von Hayek developed a definition of the terms freedom and coercion which however remained incomplete and which raised some basic questions regarding his moral philosophy and his theory of cultural evolution. Philipp Batthyány gives a definition of Hayek's concept of coercion and the reasons for the reprehensibleness of coercion as a basic evil in society. Including substantial parts of Hayek's unpublished works, he analyzes Hayek's complete works with regard to the conception of freedom and coercion on which they are based and in doing so fills a large gap in Hayek research.