Hayek, Co-ordination and Evolution

Many of the institutions on which human acievements rest have arisen and are functioning without a designing and directing mind ...the spontaneous collaboration of free men often creates things which are greater than their individual minds can ever fully comprehend' (from the Preface to Individualism and Economic Order ) Recent years have witnessed a remarkable revival in Hayek's reputation as an economist, a political philosopher, and an intellectual historian. Hayek, Co-ordination and Evolution shows why this revival has taken place by demonstrating the continuing relevance and vitality of Hayek's ideas. A group of internationally known scholars critically assess his contribution to economics, political philosophy, legal theory, cognitive psychology, the philosophy of science and the history of ideas. Dealing with the development of Hayek's work chronologically, it begins with Hayek's work in economics. The later extension of Hayek's ideas into social and political philosophy produced the works for which he is most widely known, The Road to Serfdom and The Constitution of Liberty . However, this middle period is also notable for his work in psychology, legal philosophy and the philosophy of science. It was here that the explicitly evolutionary nature of his work first became apparent, and which forms the central theme of Hayek's later writings. Despite the diverse subject matter the contributors reveal a seemingly fundamental unity in Hayek's thought. This is particularly apparent in interrelated concerns with the role of knowledge in society, the notion of spontaneous order and the problem of complexity.