Friedrich August von Hayek
F.A. Hayek (1899-1992), recipient of the Medal of Freedom in 1991 and
co-winner of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics in 1974, was a
pioneer in monetary theory and the principal proponent of
libertarianism in the twentieth century. He taught at the University
of London, the University of Chicago, and the University of Freiburg
(Germany). (Bio from the Fiftieth Anniversary Edition of The Road
to Serfdom originally published in 1944, now published by The
University of Chicago Press.)
"Nearly half a century ago, most of the smart people sneered
when Friedrich Hayek published The Road to Serfdom. The world
was wrong and Hayek right."
--Ronald Bailey, Forbes
(from the cover of The Road to Serfdom)
(Ed. Note: The following letters were provided by the Hoover
Institution on War, Revolution, and Peace, Hoover Institution
Archives,, Stanford University, and are reproduced here by
permission. Copyright 1998 the Hoover Institution.)
State University of New York
Upstate Medical Center
766 Irving Avenue
Syracuse 10, New York 13210
College of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
February 4, 1964
Professor F.A. v. Hayek
Rechts- u.Staatsw.
Facultat d. Universitat
Werthmannsplatz 1
Freiburg i. Br.
Germany
Dear Professor Hayek:
It was kind of you to send me a reprint of your article,
"Rules, Perception, and Intelligibility."
As you must have realized from reading THE MYTH OF MENTAL
ILLNESS, I have long been an avid student of your writings and an
admirer of you. You will see the influence of your thought even
more clearly in my new book, LAW, LIBERTY AND PSYCHIATRY. Under
separate cover I am sending you a copy of this book.
With best regards,
Cordially yours,
Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
-----
State University Hospital
of the
Upstate Medical Center
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, New York 13210
College of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
February 14, 1977
Professor F.A. von Hayek
Firmianstr. 17A
Salzburg
AUSTRIA
Dear Professor Hayek:
I greatly appreciate your thoughtfulness in sending me several
recent reprints, and especially the inscribed copy of your Nobel
lecture. I trust you have received a copy of my book on
_Schizophrenia_. A recent review of it in the _Nation_, of which I
enclose a copy, castigates it partly on the ground that I am a
disciple of yours. In that respect, at least, the reviewer--a
devout socialist--has chosen a valid reason for this objection.
With gratitude for the benefit of your teachings, and with best
personal regards.
Cordially,
Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
-----
State University Hospital
of the
Upstate Medical Center
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, New York 13210
College of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
February 14, 1977
Professor F.A. von Hayek
Firmianstr. 17A
Salzburg
AUSTRIA
Dear Professor Hayek:
The enclosed paper is a draft of what I plan to present, in part, at
the forthcoming conference sponsored by the Center for Libertarian
Studies. I would, of course, greatly appreciate any comments about
it that you might offer.
With best regards,
Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
-----
State University of New York
Upstate Medical Center
766 Irving Avenue
Syracuse, New York 13210
College of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
October 25, 1978
Professor F.A. Hayek
The London School of Economics and Political Science
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
ENGLAND
Dear Professor Hayek:
Many thanks for sending me a copy of your Hobhouse Lecture. It is a
marvelous extension of your fundamental ideas about the role of
planning in human affairs -- ideas that are among the profoundest in
the history of thought about such affairs, and surely among the most
important in the free world today.
I enclose a few recent pieces which I hope will be of interest to
you.
With best wishes.
Cordially,
Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
-----
State University of New York
Upstate Medical Center
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, New York 13210
College of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
June 18, 1981
Prof. Friedrich von Hayek
Urachstrasse N27, D-7800
Freiburg IM Breisgau
Federal Republic of Germany
Dear Professor von Hayek:
I have been asked to serve as Guest Editor for a special issue of
the journal _Metamedicine_, devoted to the theme of "Psychiatry and
Freedom." I am inviting you to contribute to this issue and hope
you will be able to accept. Please let me have your decision by
return mail. The deadline is March 1, 1982.
With best wishes,
Sincerely,
Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
-----
June , 1981
Professor Thomas Szasz, M.D.
Syracuse
Dear Professor Szasz,
Thank you for your letter of June 18th which, because of my
temporary absence from Freiburg, has reached me only after some
delay. I appreciate the invitation to contribute to the
_Metamedicine_ special issue on "Psychiatry and Freedoms" and would
normally be much interested in the subject, but as the deadline for
contributions is about the same as that for a major book on which I
am working and are already in trouble keeping, I am afraid I see no
prospect that I shall be able to contribute to it.
With best regards,
Sincerely,
F.A. Hayek
-----
State University of New York
Upstate Medical Center
750 East Adams Street
Syracuse, New York 13210
College of Medicine
Department of Psychiatry
February 23, 1983
Professor F.A. von Hayek
Urachstrasse 27
D-7800 Freiburg
West Germany
Dear Professor Hayek:
The inscribed copy of your _Five Essays_, and the copy of Walter
Weimer's essay, arrived today. I am greatly honored by your gift
and thank you very much for it.
I enclose some recent pieces which I hope you will like. And I hope
I shall have the chance to meet you sometime.
With best regards,
Cordially,
Thomas S. Szasz, M.D.
Professor of Psychiatry
Thomas S. Szasz Cybercenter for Liberty and Responsibility:
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