Hayek, Peart, Levy

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Early Life

• Hayek's life spanned the twentieth century, and he made his home in some of the great intellectual communities of the period.(2) Born Friedrich August von Hayek in 1899 to a distinguished family of Viennese intellectuals,(3) Hayek attended the University of Vienna, earning doctorates in 1921 and 1923. Hayek came to the University at age 19 just after World War I, when it was one of the three best places in the world to study economics (the others being Stockholm and Cambridge, England). Though he was enrolled as a law student, his primary interests were economics and psychology, the latter due to the influence of Mach's theory of perception on Wieser and Wieser's colleague Othmar Spann, and the former stemming from the reformist ideal of Fabian socialism so typical of Hayek's generation.

Economist

• While at the University of Vienna, he earned his doctorates in law and political science in 1921, while he also studied with a special interest in economics. Hayek worked as an assistant to Jeremiah Jenks from 1923 to 1924, who at the time, was an economist at New York University. One of his earliest achievements was aiding the Austrian government with the legal and economic parts of the Treat of Versailles after the first World War. In 1931, he became a faculty member of the London School of Economics. Hayek remained in Britain during the second World War and thus, became a British subject.

Legacy

Hayek's legacy is both profound and multi-faceted. His Road to Serfdom put forth the idea that socialism inevitably leads to totalitarianism, which leads to a loss of individual freedoms and liberties. Today he is championed by the right as a protector of individual rights and free trade. Later on in his career he became a libertarian, strongly believing in the ideals of free trade, liberty, and individual freedoms. Most notably he was praised in the United States during 60s and 70s. He wrote an essay called "Why I am Not a Conservative" which detailed his reasons for rejecting the conservative embrace. His primary reason was what he called "the conservative movement's inability to deal with change." He is also praised by economists and historians, who recognize his work as radical for its era. His Road To Serfdom was penned during a time period when such conservative and basic ideas as free trade were highly unpopular. While during the 40s he was lambasted for this work, today he is praised as prescient and most importantly, correct.

The Expert

The idea of an "expert" is challenged in Levy and Peart's Vanity of the Philosopher. This idea is that some scientific theories do not contain the self proclaimed expert in the field of measure. This is necessary, because the expert is part of the whole equation. In the study of eugenics is specifically Peart and Levy take issue because most eugenicists did not consider themselves in their measurements.

What Hayek said essentially is that eugenics leads to planning and planning leads to socialism. The easiest way to imagine socialism is one central body controlling all aspects of the market. This is impossible due to the limit of knowledge. For example a central body will not know anything about local prices in a specialized industry, while many within that industry are capable of setting accurate prices. This practices limits the spread of growth in a centralized market. Hayek challenged socialism based on this knowledge, and he did so in a time when many considered socialism, fascism, or anarchy as better forms of government than democracy.

• Because Peart and Levy challenge "experts" they would disagree with a group of experts controlling markets. This links Hayek with Peart and Levy's work. Peart and Levy challenge the first step of planning, eugenics, and so support Hayek. Hayek specifically challenges the second and third steps of the formation of socialism, which are planning other things. This will eventually lead to a centralized body with all the power, and thus socialism.

Vanity of the Philosopher

• Hayek played a critical role in questioning eugenics as central planning(Pg. 122). he also defended consumer sogereignty from the ideas of Maurice Dobb and J.K. Galbraith(Pg. 32). He "vigorously" opposed central planning (when related to material things, setting prices and outputs of goods and services)(Pg. 105). Because of Hayek's disdain for the "expert", it can be assumed that he would oppose eugenicists and their beliefs.

• Analytical egalitarianism by definition means that all humans, regardless of race, gender and any other physical or neurological differences, have the same potential for gaining knowledge and success. This term is tied to the classical economists. They state that the economists believed in equality, while there counter parts did not. The opposition towards analytical egalitarianism were the “experts”, or advocates of eugenics. This group is described as people who want to advance the human race through selective breeding and who also believe in analytical hierarchicalism. This term, when simplified, means that people who appear different than the “experts” must be inferior. The “Experts vs. subjects” is an example made to demonstrate analytical hierarchicalism. This example says that experts find their subjects to be inferior, which somehow motivates them to remake the human “herd” more to the experts’ desire. This idea, remaking the human race, soon became known as eugenics.
• The classical economists argue that men, at birth, are equal. An example is the common folk vs. the expert. The factors that separate the two men after birth are luck, choice and predestined-circumstances. If one is born into wealth, an automatic advantage for success is given. Certain choice made by people at a younger age separate the philosopher, who decided to attend a university, from the common person who chose to work. Generally, the capacity for intelligence is even within all humans.

Major Works

This is a brief list of Hayek's most important, controversial and well known works.

• Road to Serfdom-Hayek's most well known book, helped to launch his career. Strongly criticizes Nazism, socialism, and communism.

• Constitution of Liberty- A book that sided with conservative economics. Read by a few politicians, it never was the success Hayek had hoped for. He was expecting a similar response to Road to Serfdom

• Law, Legislation and Liberty-A massive tome, it deals with the ideas of "cosmos" and "taxis".

• Essay "Why I Am Not Conservative"-This short essay dealt mostly with European conservatism, which was often in opposition with capitalism.

References

• 1. The Vanity of the Philosopher, Peart and Levy (2005)
• 2. The Road to Serfdom, F.A. Hayek (1944)
• 3. Socialism After Hayek, Burczak