Hayek’s observations regarding spontaneous order are interesting and helpful as a descriptive matter, but without something more they provide an insufficient basis for a critique of intentional planning. Criticizing efforts at constructivist rationalism simply on the grounds that they interfere with the spontaneous generation of social institutions is as nonsensical as telling a lion not to eat an antelope because doing so would be “bad for evolution.”

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Other Independent Review articles by Timothy M. Sandefur
Fall 2022 Debunking the 1619 Project: Exposing the Plan to Divide America
Summer 2009 Some Problems with Spontaneous Order
Summer 2005 Freedom and the Burden of Proof: Randy E. Barnett’s New Book on the Constitution
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