Both the left and the right have recently attacked the classical liberals for their assumptions of hyperrationalism and extreme atomism. Those criticisms fall flat when directed at the classical liberals of the Scottish Enlightenment tradition, who argued that many useful human institutions (including language and the market) are not the result of conscious design but are unintended consequences of social interaction.
From Smith to Menger to Hayek
Liberalism in the Spontaneous-Order Tradition
By Steven G. Horwitz
This
article
appeared in
the Summer 2001 issue of The Independent Review.
Economic History and DevelopmentEconomic PolicyEconomistsEconomyGovernment and PoliticsLaw and LibertyPhilosophy and ReligionPolitical HistoryPolitical Theory
Other Independent Review articles by Steven G. Horwitz | ||
Winter 2020/21 | Crusoe and the Economists:An Accounting | |
Fall 2019 | F. A. Hayek:Economics, Political Economy, and Social Philosophy | |
Fall 2017 | Success and Luck:Good Fortune and the Myth of Meritocracy | |
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