BOOK
Exploring the Political Economy and Social Philosophy of F. A. Hayek
Peter J. Boettke | Jayme Lemke | Virgil Henry Storr
(2018)
Additional Information
Book Details
Abstract
This volume critically explore and extend Hayek’s Nobel Prize-winning work on knowledge and social interconnectedness from the disciplines of law, economics, philosophy, anthropology, political science, and history. Hayek’s insights about knowledge become even more important once it is recognized that nothing in the social world occurs in isolation. There is no such thing as a distinct economic, political, or social sphere—they are inextricably intertwined.
Given the range of both Hayek’s work and the contributing authors’ perspectives, the range of topics covered in this volume is extraordinarily wide, running the gamut from immigration, to white supremacy, to ancient agricultural practices, to the nature of what it means to be free.
Offers an insightful set of highly readable essays applying and extending Hayek's thought to history, politics, law, political philosophy, and even food anthropology. This edited volume offers a fascinating read with lots of interesting examples to anyone working in the Austrian tradition and beyond.
Diana W. Thomas, Associate Professor of Economics, Creighton University
This diverse and insightful collection represents the very best of contemporary Hayekian scholarship. The breadth of research is astounding and provides a fitting testimony to the multidisciplinary relevance of Hayek's career. Anyone in the social sciences and humanities will find insights and incitement for future work exploring how individuals engage with emergent orders to coordinate their activities.
Anthony J. Evans, ESCP Europe Business School
[The book] is an ambitious project that showcases the work of a group of young scholars who creatively apply Hayek’s thinking about knowledge, law, and spontaneous order to political and social problems in ways that he had never imagined.
Peter J. Boettke is Professor at George Mason University.
Jayme Lemke is a Senior Research Fellow and Associate Director of Academic and Student
Programs at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University and a Senior Fellow in the F.A. Hayek
Program for Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics.
Virgil Storr is Research Associate Professor of Economics and Senior Fellow, F.A. Hayek Program for
Advanced Study in Philosophy, Politics & Economics, George Mason University.
Hayek warned that “the economist who is only an economist is likely to become a nuisance if not a positive danger.” That sentiment animates this excellent collection of essays by emerging scholars applying, analyzing, and refining Hayekian ideas from a wide range of disciplinary perspectives. There is something here for every scholar in social science, history, and political philosophy.
Adam Martin, Political Economy Research Fellow, Free Market Institute, Texas Tech University
Edited by three major contributors to the modern literatures of public choice and Austrian economics, Exploring the Political Economy and Social Philosophy of F. A. Hayek comprises a wide-ranging set of essays applying classical liberal thinking across the social sciences, from immigration to rights claims, presenting ideas that are indispensable in today’s world of closed minds and closing borders.
William F. Shughart II, J. Fish Smith Professor in Public Choice, Utah State University
Friedrich Hayek was one of the most insightful social scientists of the twentieth century. This volume shows the continuing relevance of Hayek’s ideas by using them as a foundation for exploring a variety of topics from a Hayekian perspective. These essays provide readers with an increased appreciation for Hayek’s intellectual contributions and insight into a variety of economic, legal and social institutions.
Randall G. Holcombe, DeVoe Moore Professor of Economics, Florida State University
Table of Contents
Section Title | Page | Action | Price |
---|---|---|---|
Cover | Cover | ||
Exploring the Political Economy and Social Philosophy of F. A. Hayek | i | ||
Exploring the Political Economy and Social Philosophy of F. A. Hayek | iii | ||
Copyright page | iv | ||
Contents | v | ||
Introduction | 1 | ||
Epistemic Limitations | 11 | ||
Chapter 1 | 13 | ||
The Disciplinary Role of Market Prices | 13 | ||
Famines, Knowledge, and Prices | 15 | ||
Mencius and Markets | 16 | ||
Mao over Markets | 19 | ||
Engineering Famine | 23 | ||
A Hayekian Critique of Maoist China | 26 | ||
Notes | 28 | ||
References | 32 | ||
Chapter 2 | 35 | ||
Justice Theorizing and Local Knowledge | 35 | ||
Action Guidance, Local Knowledge, and Justice | 37 | ||
Hayek’s Knowledge Problem | 38 | ||
Justice Theorists and Local Knowledge | 40 | ||
The Strength of the Epistemic Limitation | 46 | ||
Thinking About Justice: A Communal Endeavor | 50 | ||
Notes | 51 | ||
References | 53 | ||
Chapter 3 | 55 | ||
The Silent Role of Emotions in Hayekian Political Economy | 55 | ||
What Are Emotions? | 57 | ||
The Pretense of Reason | 62 | ||
Hayek’s Silent Emotions? | 65 | ||
Freedom, Emotion, and Political Economy | 68 | ||
Conclusion | 74 | ||
Notes | 74 | ||
References | 76 | ||
Chapter 4 | 79 | ||
Justificatory Failures and Moral Entrepreneurs | 79 | ||
Public Reason and Justificatory Failures | 81 | ||
The JFC’s Fatal Conceit | 85 | ||
In Search of Justification: The Epistemic Turn | 88 | ||
Competition and Moral Entrepreneurs | 91 | ||
Polycentric Public Reason | 93 | ||
Conclusion | 97 | ||
References | 97 | ||
Political and Legal Rights | 101 | ||
Chapter 5 | 103 | ||
The Case for Opening Borders | 103 | ||
The Coercive Nature of Discretionary Immigration Controls | 104 | ||
Discretionary Immigration Controls and the Right of National Self-Determination | 115 | ||
Conclusion | 124 | ||
References | 124 | ||
Chapter 6 | 127 | ||
A Liberal Response to Group Rights | 127 | ||
The Stakes of Analytic and Moral Individualism | 128 | ||
The Group Rights Critique of Liberal Individualism | 130 | ||
Group Rights | 133 | ||
Evaluating Group Rights | 135 | ||
Problems of Groups as Rights Bearers | 136 | ||
Problems of Constitutive Attachments Imposing Duties on Those Encumbered by Them | 139 | ||
Problems of Constitutive Attachments Modifying the Moral Obligations of Those Not Personally Encumbered by Them | 142 | ||
Conclusion | 145 | ||
Notes | 146 | ||
References | 147 | ||
Chapter 7 | 151 | ||
The Social Basis of Ultimate Legal Rules | 151 | ||
Hart’s Model of the Foundations of Law | 152 | ||
What Can Hartian General Jurisprudence Learn from Hayek? | 154 | ||
Hayek and the Positive Originalism Debate | 162 | ||
Conclusions | 165 | ||
Notes | 166 | ||
References | 168 | ||
Chapter 8 | 171 | ||
F. A. Hayek and the Administrative State | 171 | ||
Separation of Powers and Administration Under the Rule of Law | 172 | ||
Unlimited Democracy and the Expansion of the Administrative Sphere | 181 | ||
Democratic Control of Complex Administration | 183 | ||
Revisiting the Politics-Administration \nDichotomy | 187 | ||
Conclusion | 188 | ||
Notes | 188 | ||
References | 188 | ||
Spontaneous Order | 193 | ||
Chapter 9 | 195 | ||
Explaining Culture in Hayek’s Cultural Evolution | 195 | ||
Hayek, Evolution, and Complexity | 196 | ||
Cultural Evolution per Hayek | 197 | ||
The Evolutionary Psychology Approach to Studying Culture | 203 | ||
Explaining the Extended Order | 205 | ||
Hayek’s Challenge and Response | 208 | ||
Conclusion | 211 | ||
References | 212 | ||
Chapter 10 | 215 | ||
A Hayekian Perspective on the Domestication of Maize | 215 | ||
Domestication Theories | 216 | ||
A Hayekian Theory of Domestication | 219 | ||
Maize | 221 | ||
Competitive Systems | 223 | ||
Conclusions | 225 | ||
Appendix | 227 | ||
Note | 227 | ||
References | 228 | ||
Chapter 11 | 233 | ||
Bad Spontaneous Orders | 233 | ||
Spontaneous Orders, Good and Bad | 235 | ||
Trust | 238 | ||
White Supremacy as Spontaneous Order | 241 | ||
Whiteness and Ignorance | 244 | ||
Conclusion | 248 | ||
Notes | 251 | ||
References | 255 | ||
Index | 259 | ||
About the Contributors | 275 |