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Emergent properties in the work of Friedrich Hayek

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  • Lewis, Paul

Abstract

The term ‘emergence’ features only infrequently on the work of Friedrich Hayek, and then almost always merely as a synonym for ‘spontaneous order’. The argument of this paper is that Hayek's accounts both of the working of the human mind, and also of the spontaneous order of the market, rely heavily – if almost always implicitly – on the philosophical notion of emergence, that is on the idea that when certain elements or parts stand in particular relations to one another, the whole that is formed has properties that are not possessed by those elements or parts taken in isolation. The implications of Hayek's implicit commitment to the notion of emergence for the possibility of downward causation in social life are considered. The differences between ‘emergence’ and ‘spontaneous order’ are also highlighted.

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  • Lewis, Paul, 2012. "Emergent properties in the work of Friedrich Hayek," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 82(2), pages 368-378.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jeborg:v:82:y:2012:i:2:p:368-378
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2011.04.009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. G. Hodgson, 2007. "What Are Institutions?," Voprosy Ekonomiki, NP Voprosy Ekonomiki, issue 8.
    2. Hayek, F. A. & Caldwell, Bruce, 2007. "The Road to Serfdom," University of Chicago Press Economics Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226320557 edited by Caldwell, Bruce, January.
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    4. Vaughn, Karen I, 1999. "Hayek's Implicit Economics: Rules and the Problem of Order," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 11(1-2), pages 129-144.
    5. Caldwell, Bruce, 2000. "The Emergence of Hayek's Ideas on Cultural Evolution," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 13(1), pages 5-22, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. J. Barkley Rosser, 2020. "Austrian themes and the Cambridge capital theory controversies," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 33(4), pages 415-431, December.
    2. Dold, Malte & Lewis, Paul, 2022. "F.A. Hayek on the political economy of endogenous preferences: An historical overview and contemporary assessment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 196(C), pages 104-119.
    3. Sandye Gloria, 2018. "Menger contre Walras," Post-Print hal-01797323, HAL.
    4. Sandye Gloria, 2019. "From Methodological Individualism to Complexity: The Case of Ludwig Lachmann," Post-Print halshs-02345495, HAL.
    5. Paul Lewis, 2014. "Hayek: from economics as equilibrium analysis to economics as social theory," Chapters, in: Roger W. Garrison & Norman Barry (ed.), Elgar Companion to Hayekian Economics, chapter 9, pages 195-223, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    6. Vicente Moreno-Casas, 2023. "The Harvard-MIT complexity approach to development and Austrian economics: Similarities and policy implications," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 515-539, December.
    7. Lewis, Paul, 2021. "Elinor's Ostrom's ‘realist orientation’: An investigation of the ontological commitments of her analysis of the possibility of self-governance," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 623-636.
    8. Hoffmann, Andreas & Urbansky, Björn, 2012. "Order, displacements and recurring financial crises," Working Papers 108, University of Leipzig, Faculty of Economics and Management Science.
    9. Paul Lewis, 2017. "The Ostroms and Hayek as Theorists of Complex Adaptive Systems: Commonality and Complementarity," Advances in Austrian Economics, in: The Austrian and Bloomington Schools of Political Economy, volume 22, pages 35-66, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    10. Agnès Festré & Pierre Garrouste, 2016. "Hayek on Expectations: The Interplay between two Complex Systems," GREDEG Working Papers 2016-13, Groupe de REcherche en Droit, Economie, Gestion (GREDEG CNRS), Université Côte d'Azur, France.
    11. Vicente Moreno‐Casas & Philipp Bagus, 2022. "Dynamic efficiency and economic complexity," Economic Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(1), pages 115-134, February.
    12. Meg Patrick Tuszynski, 2021. "Entanglement and Perverse Spontaneous Orders," Studies in Public Choice, in: David J. Hebert & Diana W. Thomas (ed.), Emergence, Entanglement, and Political Economy, pages 87-101, Springer.
    13. Victor I. Espinosa & William Hongsong Wang & Jesús Huerta de Soto, 2022. "Principles of Nudging and Boosting: Steering or Empowering Decision-Making for Behavioral Development Economics," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-18, February.
    14. J. Barkley Rosser, 2014. "Natural Selection versus Emergent Self-Organization in Evolutionary Political Economy," Advances in Austrian Economics, in: Entangled Political Economy, volume 18, pages 67-91, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    15. J. Barkley Rosser & Marina V. Rosser, 2017. "Complexity and institutional evolution," Evolutionary and Institutional Economics Review, Springer, vol. 14(2), pages 415-430, December.
    16. Alexander J. Malt, 2018. "Methodological individualism: True and false," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 31(1), pages 73-109, March.
    17. Paul Lewis & Richard E. Wagner, 2017. "New Austrian macro theory: A call for inquiry," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 1-18, March.
    18. Sandye Gloria, 2019. "From Methodological Individualism to Complexity: The Case of Ludwig Lachmann," Review of Political Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(2), pages 216-232, April.
    19. Rosser, J. Barkley & Rosser, Marina V, 2023. "A conjoined intellectual journey: Richard H. Day and the journal he founded," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 210(C), pages 83-90.
    20. Peter Lewin, 2014. "Hayek and Lachmann," Chapters, in: Roger W. Garrison & Norman Barry (ed.), Elgar Companion to Hayekian Economics, chapter 8, pages 165-194, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    21. Vipin P. Veetil & Lawrence H. White, 2017. "Towards a New Austrian Macroeconomics," The Review of Austrian Economics, Springer;Society for the Development of Austrian Economics, vol. 30(1), pages 19-38, March.

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