Noterelle sul "vero individualismo" hayekiano

Abstract

The essay aims to reconstruct the birth and the evolution of Hayek's idea of True Individualism from Mandeville to Popper and its relevance for the Hayekian project of a reconstruction of Liberalism by means of a combination of Scottish Enlightenment and Austrian School. Hayek identifies the focus of the Individualist Tradition with the theory of the unintended origins of social institutions. However, regarding this origin, Menger criticizes Smith's theory and thinks that it leads to socialism. Hayek is silent about this critique. To understand the reasons of this silence, the author reconstructs the Hayekian thesis, analyzing all his works, and also through an investigation of: 1. Menger's critique of Smithian theory of change and of price and of its relation with the theory of institutions and with the role played by the Invisible Hand; 2. an analysis of the influence of Burke and Savigny on Menger concerning the concept and the rise of Law and its relationship with Legislation. The thesis maintains that in order to explain the rise and the development of social institutions as unintended result of human actions, Austrian theory does not need any Invisible Hand.