Polemics between right and left concerning the needs, policies and social rights: a confrontation between the ideas of Friedrich von Hayek and Raymond Plant

Abstract

This article aims to show two opposing views about the social rights associated to the human basic needs: from the Austrian Friedrich von Hayek, known as the father of the neoliberalism – who rejects the social rights as genuine rights of the citizenship – and from the English socialist Raymond Plant who, unlike Hayek, defends and supports the legitimacy of the social rights, inclusive the basic income, as essential components of the wide citizenship. The importance of this theoretical debate, started by Plant, is in its contribution to the comprehension about the needs that the disqualification of the social rights can contribute (as it has been already contributing) to an implementation of a social policy that can put in action these rights.

Key words – Liberalism. Human needs. Policies and social rights.