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Cognition, competition, and catallaxy in memory of Friedrich August von Hayek

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Abstract

The paper focuses on central elements of the scientific work of Friedrich A. v. Hayek since the 1930s. In a first part, his epistemological position and its implications for his understanding of the tasks of the social sciences are presented as he set them out particularly in theSensory Order (1952). Then, it is shown how his findings in economic theory as well as in the analysis of economic and societal systems are formed by these foundations. His emphasis on the subjectivity and the constitutional limitations of human knowledge is identified as a precondition for the outstanding analytical insights which he gained with regard to the functioning of a market order and the role of institutions in societal development. Furthermore, it is argued that Hayek's enduring campaign for freedom and against the socialist tendencies in welfare states was not simply a matter of personal conviction. It was also the result of his analysis in constitutional political economy which revealed to him that freedom as a normative basis of economic and societal institutions is the key to the explanation of European cultural evolution.

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  1. University of Freiburg, Germany

    Manfred E. Streit (chair)

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  1. Manfred E. Streit
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This article is the extended version of a paper presented at the Hayek-Symposium 1992 at Bleibach-Gutach, Germany and is based on a corresponding essay in German (Streit 1992). I like to thank my collaborators Daniel Kiwit, Werner Mussler, Stefan Voigt and Michael Wohlgemuth for useful criticism and suggestions.

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Streit, M.E. Cognition, competition, and catallaxy in memory of Friedrich August von Hayek. Constit Polit Econ 4, 223–262 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02393081

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