Hayek's Terra Incognita of the Mind


 

Publication Date: March 1996

Publisher: Cato Institute

Author(s): Gary Dempsey

Research Area: Economics

Type: Report

Abstract:

Although Friedrich Hayek has been long recognized for his economic insights, and in fact was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1974 for his theory of money and economic fluctuations, very little academic attention has been paid to other aspects of his thought. This oversight is unfortunate. Hayek's theory of mind provides us with a compelling defense of the market system. Moreover, with the publication of books like Daniel Dennett's Consciousness Explained, Paul Churchland's Matter and Consciousness, and Francis Crick's The Astonishing Hypothesis, Hayek's views regarding the unpredictability of the human mind are particularly timely.