VARIETIES OF THE LIBERAL TRADITION ACCORDING TO FRIEDRICH HAYEK'S CLASSIFICATION

Abstract

Liberalism recognizes freedom, limited government, free market, individualism, progress, rationality as the most important factors of social welfare. However, different currents of liberalism interpret these terms differently. Actually, the difference lies in the understanding of the basic principles of liberal theory, which sometimes blurs the very meaning of the term "liberalism".
Therefore, the question naturally arises: what is liberalism, if even the fundamental value of this ideology is interpreted by prominent representatives of the liberal camp in a radically opposite way?
In this article, the author, relying on the famous liberal thinker of the 20th century, Friedrich Hayek, examines the differences between the two main liberal traditions: Anglo-Saxon (British) and continental European. These are completely antagonistic varieties of liberal thought. However, in the 19th century, their synthesis took place, which gave rise to many branches of liberal teaching over the time. In particular, modern varieties of liberalism cannot be understood without studying the basic liberal traditions. And the very lack of coherent integrity of ideas calls into question the possibility of using the term "liberalism" to describe a unitary political theory.