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68 | F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom: Competition, Individualism, and the Politics of Reaction (Patreon)

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2023-06-27 10:01:00
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2026-06
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Content

In this episode, we discuss the ideas of economist and political philosopher F.A. Hayek as they appear in his 1944 book The Road to Serfdom. This influential book was written in response to what Hayek saw as the trend towards socialism in the mid-twentieth century and it offers his defense of “classical liberalism.” We examine the political and epistemological premises of Hayek’s theory of liberty and free markets, question his assumptions on human nature and cooperation, and near the end critique his odious conflation of communism and fascism. Say what you will about Hayek: at least he saved us from being subordinated and unfree! ...Right?

patreon.com/leftofphilosophy

References:

F.A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom, edited by Bruce Caldwell (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2007).

F.A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty, edited by Ronald Hamowy (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2011).

Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the Birth of Neoliberalism (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2018).

Music:

Vintage Memories by Schematist | schematist.bandcamp.com

Comments

Larry Alan Busk

Hey! Re: getting Hayek’s epistemology in grad school – I have a book coming out in September, called The Right-Wing Mirror of Critical Theory, which argues that contemporary critical/radical theory parrots philosophical ideas from Hayek (and Schmitt and Oakeshott and Strauss). So it was really validating to hear that y’all picked up on this as well.

What's Left of Philosophy

Great to hear, Larry! Really looking forward to the book. Been a while since I’ve (it’s Owen) seen you, any chance you’ll be at SPEP in Toronto?

Larry Alan Busk

Unfortunately I'll be in upstate NY for the association for political theory that weekend, but maybe you'll make it to Salt Lake City for RPA in 2024?

Art Y

Hi, I’ve been listening to the podcast for a few months and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I just wish to add an article that addresses Hayek’s epistemological claims that we can never know truly how to operate a society due to the “tacit knowledge problem” or “dispersed knowledge” / that the economy is too complex to ever plan at all. https://brill.com/view/journals/hima/aop/article-10.1163-1569206x-bja10001/article-10.1163-1569206x-bja10001.xml In essence, the article says that local knowledge can be used within the planning procedure whereby producers engage in choosing their suppliers and being allowed to engage in their own process. Whereby local information can be integral to the planning process. The author, in my opinion, did an extremely well done job of elucidating how the central planning underpinned by algorithms need not to be an oppressive, rational authority depicted by Austrians and Hayek alike.

Art Y
>>111694633

I will definitely be looking out for this book! The premise seems interesting already 😄

Paul Bowman

Great ep. Very much talking my language in the last 10 mins, especially. So on that specific topic (liberals and the "ideology of non-ideology") a couple of things I already wrote on that, in case folks are interested: "The Nazi Origins of Horseshoe Theory" (spoiler: Ivan Ilyin) https://eidgenossen.medium.com/the-nazi-origins-of-horseshoe-theory-5d9aa0ee277c and a longer, unfortunately more rambling draft piece on liberalism and centrism, w.r.t the "ideology of non-ideology" (skip directly to Centrism-content) https://eidgenossen.medium.com/liberalism-and-centrism-51b689ca5f4f "But whether left or right, centrism is protagonistic[sic], not only cognitively, in terms of the limits of their imagination, but also normatively, which is to say ideologically. Above all, the centrist horror of counterpower is common to both. By all means, oppose the Poll Tax for e.g., but do so in the proper manner by waiting for the next election and voting for a party that promises to abolish it through legal means. Whatever you do, don’t oppose it by breaking the law. Because collective action outside of the law, in defiance of the power of the state, is mob rule, is akin to fascism. And, to use the vernacular where “liberals” is used as a synonym for centrists — for liberals all counterpower is fascism."