F. A. Hayek and the Epistemology of Politics: The Curious Task of Economics

ISBN-13: 9781138289956 / Angielski / Twarda / 2020 / 200 str.

Scott Scheall

Opis

F. A. Hayek and the Epistemology of Politics is an exploration of a problem that has largely been ignored: the problem of policymaker ignorance, and the limits of political epistemology. Scott Scheall explores Hayek’s attitude to the philosophy of science and political philosophy.

Recenzje

"Scheall provides an engaging analysis of the possibility of applying Hayek’s methodology to policymaking in liberal democracies, rich in suggestions for both economists and political scientists. The discussion of the core idea of his book is enriched by many enlightening insights into the history of economics, such as the economic calculation debate, Hayek’s quarrels with Keynes, and the influence of philosophers and scientists like Adolph St€ohr and Hermann von Helmholtz on Hayek’s theory of knowledge and perception."

Francesco Di Iorio, European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

Spis treści

Dedication About the Author Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Part One The Problem of Policymaker Ignorance Chapter One Policymaker Ignorance: The First Problem of Politics and Political Inquiry Some Terminological Clarifications The Logically Ancillary Nature of the Problem of Policymaker Incentives The Logical Priority of the Epistemic More about Epistemic Burdens The Introspective Argument for the Logical Priority of the Epistemic The Argument for the Logical Priority of the Epistemic from Ought Implies Can and Similar Principles The Problematic Nature of Political Decision-Making in Light of the Priority of the Epistemic Policymaker Ignorance and Constituent Disappointment A Taxonomy of Ignorant Policymakers Reflection and Foreshadow Chapter Two Beyond the Socialist Oasis: Hayek’s Extensions of Mises’ Calculation Argument The Insurmountable Epistemic Burden of the Administrator of a Pure and Isolated Socialist Oasis Hayek’s Epistemology – A First Pass Explanation, Prediction, and Control of Complex Phenomena The Epistemic Burdens of Socialist Administrators in Other Contexts The "Mathematical Solution": Not a Solution Abrogating Economic Freedom to Facilitate Solution of the Calculation Problem The Epistemic Burdens of the Central Planner under Market Socialism The Epistemic Burden of Achieving Consensus concerning a Central Plan The Epistemic Burdens of Countercyclical Economic Policymaking and Keynesian Demand Management The Role of Ignorance in Hayek’s Early Theory of Industrial Fluctuations Hayek’s Epistemic Theory of Industrial Fluctuations The Generality of the Reasoning Underlying the Austrians’ Political-Epistemological Approach Reflection and Foreshadow Chapter Three Liberalism and the Problem of Policymaker Ignorance The Epistemic Burdens of Realizing an Effective Liberal Order: The Problem of the Epistemic Requirements of Liberal Transitions The Artificiality of the Assumption of the Committed Liberalizer Hayek’s Failure to See the Problem of the Epistemic Requirements of Liberal Transitions Political Epistemology > "Epistemic Institutionalism" Robust Political Economy: Not a Solution The Epistemic Burden of Policymaking within Liberal Environments The Epistemic Burden of Policy Inaction Reflection and Foreshadow Part Two Hayekian Political Epistemology Chapter Four The Epistemological Aspects of Hayekian Political Epistemology Hayek versus Mises on Matters Epistemological, Part One Hayek as Theoretical Psychologist and Epistemological Naturalist Some Historical Background Hayek’s Conception of Knowledge Epistemological Normativism vs. Epistemological Naturalism Association as the Principle that Explains the Complex Phenomena of Mental Life Hayekian A Priori Knowledge: Pre-Sensory Linkages Hayek versus Mises on Matters Epistemological, Part Two Hayek’s Radical Empiricism Epistemic Justification and Hayek’s Non-Standard Conception of Knowledge Subjective Data and Objective Data Hayekian Political Epistemology Reflection and Foreshadow Chapter Five Political Order and Disorder as Epistemic Phenomena Knowledge, Planning, Social Order, and Epistemic Mechanisms Further Epistemic Requirements of Social Order How Prices Tell You "What to Do" How Reputation Signals Tell Scientists (and Others) "What to Do" Political Order and Disorder Reflection and Foreshadow Chapter Six Hayekian Political Epistemology as a Science of the Limits of Deliberate Political Action Hayek versus Keynes Yet Again A General Schema for Empirical Political Epistemology The Hayek-Keynes Debate through the Lens of Political Epistemology A Constitutional Approach to the Problem of Policymaker Ignorance How Hayek Should Have Responded to Keynes’ Challenge Functional Omniscience and Omnipotence Reflection Reflection and Foreshadow What the Argument Is and What the Argument Is Not Bibliography Index

O autorze

Scott Scheall is Assistant Professor and Director of Graduate Studies in the Faculty of Social Science in Arizona State University’s College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, as well as Project Director for the History of Economic Thought in Arizona State University’s Center for the Study of Economic Liberty. He has published extensively on topics related to the history and philosophy of the Austrian School of economics. Scott is co-host of Smith and Marx Walk into a Bar: A History of Economics Podcast.