Politics and social life are essentially about decision making, but great parts of that which politics aims to govern, that which social life revolves around and that which is studied in political science is not necessarily the result of conscious decisions. This some philosophers and political theorists would attribute to spontaneous order, arguing that certain norms, customs and institutions have evolved as the result of human action without, for that matter, being the result of human design. The theory of spontaneous order was primarily developed by the Austrian-British philosopher and economist Friedrich Hayek (1899–1992). To him, spontaneous order was a way of solving problems with information deficits in society as well as an important part of his economic, political and institutional theory. However, Hayek’s social theory, which is largely based on the idea of spontaneous order, gives rise to a number of questions. The purpose of this essay is to examine the relationship between individual freedom, constitutionalism and spontaneous order in Friedrich Hayek’s social theory, and to critically evaluate this relationship in the light of that same theory. The purpose is achieved through critical analysis and by answering the following three questions: How does individual freedom, constitutionalism and spontaneous order relate to each other according to Hayek? Is Hayek’s proposal for constitutional design logically compatible with the theory of spontaneous order? Are there institutions, according to Hayek, that limit individual freedom, but are legitimate nevertheless by virtue of having developed spontaneously? The general conclusion of the essay is that Hayek’s proposal for constitutional design is logically compatible with the theory of spontaneous order, and that the principles of individual freedom, constitutionalism and spontaneous order are related to each other in a logically valid manner, but that the other institutions that Hayek proposes give rise to contradictions and indeterminacy vis-à-vis the fundamental principles of his theory.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-521939 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Kärkkäinen, Catarina |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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