A Danse Macabre of Wants and Satisfactions: Hayek, Oakeshott, Liberty, and Cognition

Corey Abel and Leslie Marsh

Chapter Chapter 5 in Austrian Economic Perspectives on Individualism and Society, 2014, pp 107-140 from Palgrave Macmillan

Abstract: Abstract In this chapter our aim is to rescue the meaning of liberty from the ministrations of its misguided friends and explore how it relates to human nature, culture, and economic order. Some Austrian economists have embraced liberty as the sole value. Despite the overriding “liberty talk” of “soft” libertarians, their position can be assimilated under the liberal-conservative axis, as a species of classical liberalism.1 Some self-avowed “conservatives” uncritically embrace the market seemingly unaware that its spontaneity and dynamism may well be incompatible with the social values they wish to preserve. However, our primary target is “hard” libertarianism, which, by one prominent theorist’s own admission, is thoroughly illiberal (Block, 2011). We argue that such a position amounts to a species of absolutism and an extreme case of rationalism, offering at best a vapid account of freedom.

Keywords: Human Nature; Economic Organization; Free Society; Spontaneous Order; Basic Liberty (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-36884-3_6

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DOI: 10.1057/9781137368843_6

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