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

F. A. Hayek

ISBN 10: 0226321096 / ISBN 13: 9780226321097

Published by The University Of Chicago Press Mär 2010, 2010

About this Item

Neuware - Features a collection of essays on the study of social phenomena. This title argues that the vast number of elements whose interactions create social structures and institutions make it unlikely that social science can predict precise outcomes.

Seller Inventory # 9780226321097

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Studies on the Abuse and Decline of Reason : Text and Documents
• Publisher: The University Of Chicago Press Mär 2010
• Publication Date: 2010
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226321096
• ISBN 13: 9780226321097
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 238W x 159H x 30D millimeters 238 millimeters width by 159 millimeters height by 30 millimeters depth
• Weight: 658 grams

About this title

Synopsis

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.

About the Authors

F. A. Hayek (1899–1992), recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1991 and co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics in 1974, was a pioneer in monetary theory and a leading proponent of classical liberalism in the twentieth century. He taught at the University of Vienna, University of London, University of Chicago, and University of Freiburg.

Bruce Caldwell is research professor of economics and the director of the Center for the History of Political Economy at Duke University. He is the general editor of the Collected Works of F. A. Hayek series, also published by the University of Chicago Press.