Hayek, Liberalism and Social Knowledge

Bibliographic Data

ID6238980
AuthorsLawrence J Connin (Pennsylvania State University, corresponding author)
Year1990
Volume23
Issue2
Pages297-315
Publication date1990-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanadian Journal of Political Science (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0008-4239 • E-ISSN: 1744-9324
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0008423900012269
OpenAlexW2102117896
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited7

The Nobel prizewinner F. A. Hayek has spent his long career defending classical liberalism and the free market from those wishing to introduce planning and greater “rationality” into social life. As this study tries to show, Hayek's defence of market liberalism is predicated on his theory of social knowledge and how liberal principles and processes are best suited to cope with our limited ability to utilize this knowledge. He argues that we can cope best with our ignorance by resisting the temptations to set up centralized decision-making mechanisms and by accepting the discovery procedure of the market mechanism. Unlike other attempts to defend classical liberalism, Hayek offers a radically new knowledge-based foundation. If Marx's work could be labelled an economically-based sociology, Hayek's work could be labelled an epistemologically-based politics. But is his epistemological defence simply an ideological move to defend against attacks levelled at capitalism, or has he provided an indisputable foundation to justify the maintenance of liberal orders

Capitalism · Classical liberalism · Economic liberalism · Economics · Epistemology · Foundation (evidence · Ideology · Ignorance · Law and economics · Liberalism · Neoclassical economics · Political science · Politics · Positive economics · Rationality · Sociology · Economic Theory and Institutions · Law · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science · Political Economy and Marxism

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