Friedrich von Hayek and John Dewey on the Market and Democracy: Convergent, Complementary, and Irreducible Contributions to Liberal Theory

Véronique Dutraive ()
Additional contact information
Véronique Dutraive: TRIANGLE - Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - ENS de Lyon - École normale supérieure de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - IEP Lyon - Sciences Po Lyon - Institut d'études politiques de Lyon - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne - UJM EPE - Université Jean Monnet (EPSCPE) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique

Post-Print from HAL

Abstract: In the context of the current crisis of democratic governance, this paper revisits the intellectual dialogue between Friedrich von Hayek and John Dewey on the nature of liberalism in complex societies, where market processes and political governance are deeply intertwined. It first highlights key epistemological convergences that justify a comparative inquiry into their respective social philosophies. The analysis then contrasts their ontological foundations of democracy and their divergent views on the relationship between the economic and political spheres, ultimately distinguishing their conceptions of economic democracy. By comparing their epistemological and ontological premises, the paper argues that Dewey's pragmatic conception of democracy broadens and enriches certain insights of Hayek's epistemic liberalism – particularly by integrating communication, ethical reflexivity, and institutional learning into the understanding of social coordination.

Keywords: democracy; market; Friedrich von Hayek; John Dewey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-06-02
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Published in Journal of Economic Methodology, 2026, Published online: 02 Jun 2026, pp.1-17. ⟨10.1080/1350178X.2026.2651091⟩

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05645559

DOI: 10.1080/1350178X.2026.2651091

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Post-Print from HAL
Bibliographic data for series maintained by CCSD ().