John Milton: (1608–1674) English poet who observed that “If every action which is good or evil… were under… compulsion, what were virtue but a name…?” In other words, compelling people to do good, or not allowing them to do evil, denies them any choice and therefore any opportunity for virtue. Hayek suspects that more and more English and American intellectuals were (as of 1943) critical of Milton’s view that England had something to teach the world.
John Milton: Author of Paradise Lost.
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