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    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents
    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents
    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents
    Ebook313 pages10 hours

    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents

    By F. A. Hayek and Bruce Caldwell

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    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason is a series of fascinating essays on the study of social phenomena. How to best and most accurately study social interactions has long been debated intensely, and there are two main approaches: the positivists, who ignore intent and belief and draw on methods based in the sciences; and the nonpositivists, who argue that opinions and ideas drive action and are central to understanding social behavior. F. A. Hayek’s opposition to the positivists and their claims to scientific rigor and certainty in the study of human behavior is a running theme of this important book.

    Hayek argues that the vast number of elements whose interactions create social structures and institutions make it unlikely that social science can predict precise outcomes. Instead, he contends, we should strive to simply understand the principles by which phenomena are produced. For Hayek this modesty of aspirations went hand in hand with his concern over widespread enthusiasm for economic planning. As a result, these essays are relevant to ongoing debates within the social sciences and to discussion about the role government can and should play in the economy.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherUniversity of Chicago Press
    Release dateMar 15, 2010
    ISBN9780226321127
    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason: Text and Documents

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    Reviews for Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason

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    • 3/5
      TAPOLOGIA I recommended this book to Manny when I was only 1/4 of the way through, and had no idea where it was going. Here is a good example of why that is probably not a good idea. The first 1/2 of the book or so has to do with the evolution of scientific thinking. It seemed like it might be relevant to his ongoing project exploring the interface between science and religion (my words, not his). French socialist/utopian Henri de Saint-Simon viewed scientific thinking as the third step in mankind's evolution: from superstition/theism to coexistant religious and scientific thought, to a future ideal where religion is discarded and science becomes the basis of social policy and human interaction. Having finished the book, I doubt it will be that helpful. Freemasonry and central banks will bring about the apocalypse, of course, but it's interesting to hear that from a book about the evolution of scientific thought from 1700 to 1825, isn't it? The Enlightenment of the 1600's and 1700's saw more scientific advancement in the West in the space of 100 years than had been achieved by the preceeding seven centuries. Luminaries like Isaac Newton, Karl Gauss, Edmund Halley, Henry Cavendish, Antoine Lavoisier, and others demonstrated the power of observation and the scientific method to unravel nature's mysteries. The rapid developments in the natural sciences at this time is sometimes called "The Scientific Revolution" (in the company of the Agricultural Revolution and the Industrial Revolution). Two important consequences of this revolution were the advancement of technology (applied science), and its stimulation of market capitalism (and its political symbiote, democracy).With most revolutions, there is a countercurrent of resistance- a counterrevolution. That's the topic of this book, although it wasn't what I thought it would be. I figured it would be reactionary forces of the Church, or feudalism rebelling against Science. According to Hayek, the counterrevolution is represented by social philosophers who embraced, but misapplied the tools of science. As the natural sciences rocketed by them, so-called "social philosophers" of the 18th century struggled to figure out how the scientific method could advance their own fields. These were the early beginnings of Sociology and Political Science. My apologies to any Sociologists or Political Scientists out there, but you should know this book completely rips into the foundations of your respective studies. I don't have a dog in that fight, but Hayek makes some interesting observations:1) The natural sciences tend to observe behaviors of "the whole" (i.e. macroscopic bodies, such as chemical solutions, individual organisms, planets, etc) and to use these observations to deduce information about the "the components" (i.e. microscopic or molecular bodies, such as individual atoms, organs, etc) Conversely, social fields tend to observe the behaviors of individual persons (i.e. components) to deduce overarching principles about greater society (i.e. "the whole").2) One of the premises in studying nature is the assumption of uniformity. Under similar conditions, every hydrogen atom (or whatever) in Wisconsin, in 2014, should be expected to behave exactly the same as every hydrogen atom did in France three hundred years ago. The study of people is much different; observations made about senior citizens in California in the 1950's may have no relevance to observations about senior citizens in New Zealand in 2000. There can be no assumptions of uniformity when dealing with people, cultural values, social mores, etc... which is one of the things which makes "social philosophies" so interesting, but which may lead to flawed conclusions, when rigorous scientific methods are applied. Even the same individual may behave differently, if observed at different times. People are capable of illogical, novel, and inconsistent behavior -a complication which the natural sciences has never needed to control for. 3) Context. One of the great breakthroughs in science has been the practice of making objective observations about phenomena. Observers try to completely divorce themselves from extraneous associations which tend to complicate the formation of hypotheses. For example, when Newton describes the behavior of masses in motion, it doesn't particularly matter whether the mass is a stone or a box full of apples, etc. When studying the behavior of people, it is impossible to remove cultural context from the study, because behaviors are shaped by all sorts of associations which are in part the SUBJECT of the study. Well, that's interesting and all, but so what? Who cares if humanistic studies aren't as well-suited to scientific analysis as the natural world? That's what the second half of the book is about. Hayek develops his thesis that it was the misapplication of scientific thinking (or "scientistic thinking", as Hayek calls it) which led influential "social philosophers" like Henry Saint-Simon, Auguste Compte ("Father of Modern Sociology"), and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel to come to grotesque and flawed conclusions about the nature and fate of mankind. Worse still, just as technology is the practical application of hard science, social policies, "social engineering", governance, propaganda/advertising, and studies of social manipulation are the practical application of social sciences. Resting as they do on a flawed foundation, Hayek takes issue with how these fields have developed.The idea of looking at individuals as uniform components of a "whole" (society) drew Saint-Simon's philosophies away from the Enlightenment ideals of individualism and liberty, and towards a worldview where individuals were themselves only consequential as being a medium for the greater forces of history to manifest. His utopianism envisioned a society based entirely on the applied principles of scientistic social philosophy... policies and laws were to be the products a of "social technology", or applied social science, aimed at achieving "scientifically objective" social good (whatever that could possibly mean), with no regard for the desires or aptitudes of the individual, or for cultural values science could not incorporate or account for. What we end up with are grand social engineering schemes, which by their very nature cannot help but be authoritarian. Joseph Stalin's forced industrialization of the Soviet Union in the 1930's, and his disasterous forced collectivization of Ukranian farms (resulting in mass starvation) are but two examples of this.Sure enough, Hayek links the scientistic misunderstanding of man to 20th century totalitarianism, by showing how profoundly Karl Marx was affected by Compte, Hegel and Saint-Simon. To a lesser degree, "secular humanism" and other philosophical spinoffs of scientistic Sociology are observed in the liberal democratic/capitalistic West. It's fascinating stuff... a bit out of my area, and very dry reading in parts, but worthwhile food for thought. I'm sure some of this is bound to be controversial, but don't expect me to respond to comments below; I'm not sure how I feel about parts of this book, and I'm definitely not versed in it well enough to engage anybody in debate. Just read the book and post your own review, if you please.One part of the book which I found interesting- although it was not central to the thesis- was the author's discussion of faith. In a discussion about the Scientific Revolution, and the emergance of Western thought from domination by the Church, isn't there is a natural tendency to square faith and scientific conclusion off against each other, as if they are diametric opposites? No so for Hayek, who sees the two as existing on the same continuum of certainty: scientific conclusions being more certain than matters of faith, but always issued with a proviso that "these conclusions are subject to change, as future evidence may cause us to revise our hypotheses". Faith is a conclusion of sorts too, and sometimes has sustaining evidence, but not the sort which can stand to rigorous skeptical scrutiny. In a way, Faith (the non-fundamentist kind, at least) may even be subject to change, as more information comes to light. Witness Bible-belt churches who try to explain the fossil record within the context of Creationism. It may not be very satisfying to skeptics, but they're modifying their original theorems to accomodate new evidence. The point isn't that Faith and Science are equivalents; far from it, but that they aren't as opposite as commonly thought, and that makes the origins of the Scientific Revolution a little more understandable; a little less revolutionary.Oh yeah- the part about Freemasons and central banks bringing about the apocalypse: it's veiled, but it's in there.
    • 5/5
      Friedrich August von Hayek (1899-1992) was a great Austrian-born economist and philosopher. When one considers the breadth of his work and the acuity of his analysis, he may very well be the pre-eminent sociopolitical thinker of the 20th century. No one has been such an outspoken advocate for liberty, or such a devastating foe of all forms of socialism—what Hayek often calls collectivism.In The Counter-Revolution of Science (1952), he deconstructs the illusions of the early socialist thinkers, notably the false doctrine of “scientism,” the misapplication of scientific methodology to social phenomena, particularly history. History, Hayek explains, is not a real thing, subject to the methods of the natural sciences. If we are to undertake a study of zebras, we need not hesitate to employ these methods. We see before us a type of animal that is clearly distinguished from other species. There can be little doubt that a zebra is a zebra. Our subjects behave in accordance with the characteristics of their kind. They cannot change themselves, and there is no emotional or intellectual bond between researcher and subject.All this is completely different when it comes to human history. Our subjects do not behave in a predictable fashion, and they can remake themselves. There are many bonds (and enmity) between researcher and subject. But most importantly, the creation of history is itself a subjective act. The actors are implementing what they believe to be “their” history of the moment; moreover, each individual has a different perception of his own behavior, his neighbor’s behavior, and indeed everything else occurring in the world. To say that this phenomenon is subject to laws in the same sense as natural laws is a serious error.When I read Hayek, I am always struck by his vast command of history, culture, philosophy, and economics, as well as by his matter-of-fact tone. His attitude is distinctly non-ideological; he is never the advocate of a party or “program.” Hayek warned us about flirtation with the wily seductress that is collectivism. Will we take heed?

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    Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason - F. A. Hayek

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