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Friedrich A. Hayek:The Hayekian Prism (voir la source)
Version du 11 janvier 2009 à 10:49
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When Caldwell turns to the work of Hayek himself, he continues the pattern so far suggested: he selects an important topic, has much of value to say about it, but fails to get matters quite right. | When Caldwell turns to the work of Hayek himself, he continues the pattern so far suggested: he selects an important topic, has much of value to say about it, but fails to get matters quite right. | ||
In earlier studies, Caldwell has been much preoccupied with the a priorism of Mises; so it comes as no surprise, then, that he devotes attention to Hayek's famous article of 1937, "Economics and Knowledge." Hayek later identified a covert theme in this article, his break with Mises over the a priori. Caldwell, a strong opponent of Mises's method, argues that Hayek had even before his article distanced himself from Mises. | In earlier studies, Caldwell has been much preoccupied with the a priorism of Mises; so it comes as no surprise, then, that he devotes attention to Hayek's famous article of 1937, "Economics and Knowledge." Hayek later identified a covert theme in this article, his break with Mises over the a priori. Caldwell, a strong opponent of Mises's method, argues that Hayek had even before his article distanced himself from Mises{{ref|3}}. | ||
Hayek in his article restricted the sphere of a priori knowledge to the actions of single individuals. Interpersonal actions cannot be studied without resort to the empirical, because a person cannot know a priori the choices of others. But where did Mises ever say that one can? Mises's praxeology is confined entirely to the form of human action and what follows from this: it never attempts to deduce the particular choices of individuals. Mises, I suggest, was entirely on target in thinking that Hayek had not broken with him. Hayek's belief to the contrary rested on misunderstanding. | Hayek in his article restricted the sphere of a priori knowledge to the actions of single individuals. Interpersonal actions cannot be studied without resort to the empirical, because a person cannot know a priori the choices of others. But where did Mises ever say that one can? Mises's praxeology is confined entirely to the form of human action and what follows from this: it never attempts to deduce the particular choices of individuals. Mises, I suggest, was entirely on target in thinking that Hayek had not broken with him. Hayek's belief to the contrary rested on misunderstanding. | ||
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The issue I have raised is of much more than biographical interest, since the nature of a priori reasoning is crucial to economics. To my amazement, Caldwell in one passage suggests that Hayek identifies a priori reasoning with introspection, when Hayek of course stands innocent of this gross fallacy. Hayek states: "We can derive from the knowledge of our own mind in an 'a priori' or 'deductive' or analytic' fashion an (at least in principle) exhaustive classification of all the possible forms of intelligible reasoning." Concerning this, Caldwell says that when Hayek "refers to knowledge that is derived '"a priori,"' he seems to mean by the phrase something like "knowledge that is gained by introspection" (Both quotations from p. 222). | The issue I have raised is of much more than biographical interest, since the nature of a priori reasoning is crucial to economics. To my amazement, Caldwell in one passage suggests that Hayek identifies a priori reasoning with introspection, when Hayek of course stands innocent of this gross fallacy. Hayek states: "We can derive from the knowledge of our own mind in an 'a priori' or 'deductive' or analytic' fashion an (at least in principle) exhaustive classification of all the possible forms of intelligible reasoning." Concerning this, Caldwell says that when Hayek "refers to knowledge that is derived '"a priori,"' he seems to mean by the phrase something like "knowledge that is gained by introspection" (Both quotations from p. 222). | ||
Not at all! A priori reasoning concerns the logical relations among concepts. By thinking about the concept of choice, e.g., one sees that an actor will always choose his highest valued alternative. By contrast, introspection merely reports a particular person's thought. Relying on introspection, I report that I prefer vanilla ice cream to pistachio, but there is nothing a priori, deductive, or analytic about my assertion. Hayek surely did not mean anything like this. No wonder Caldwell views the a priori with misgiving: How can you gain knowledge about the world if you confine yourself to your private thoughts? Caldwell's view, I hope to have shown, is a confusion. | Not at all! A priori reasoning concerns the logical relations among concepts. By thinking about the concept of choice, e.g., one sees that an actor will always choose his highest valued alternative. By contrast, introspection merely reports a particular person's thought. Relying on introspection, I report that I prefer vanilla ice cream to pistachio, but there is nothing a priori, deductive, or analytic about my assertion. Hayek surely did not mean anything like this. No wonder Caldwell views the a priori with misgiving: How can you gain knowledge about the world if you confine yourself to your private thoughts? Caldwell's view, I hope to have shown, is a confusion{{ref|4}}. | ||
If Hayek was an epistemologist, a historian, and a political philosopher, he nevertheless always remained an economist; and Caldwell rightly calls attention to one of Hayek's final contributions to economic thought. In his 1981 talk, "The Flow of Goods and Services," Hayek renounced the notion of equilibrium. Equilibrium, Hayek maintained, was not a useful way to understand the market process; instead, Hayek suggested the metaphor, not altogether clear, of a stream. Caldwell sees the crucial point: | If Hayek was an epistemologist, a historian, and a political philosopher, he nevertheless always remained an economist; and Caldwell rightly calls attention to one of Hayek's final contributions to economic thought. In his 1981 talk, "The Flow of Goods and Services," Hayek renounced the notion of equilibrium. Equilibrium, Hayek maintained, was not a useful way to understand the market process; instead, Hayek suggested the metaphor, not altogether clear, of a stream. Caldwell sees the crucial point: | ||
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How is one to explain so fundamental a change? Equilibrium had long been at the center of Hayek's thought, a fact that Joseph Salerno has taught us better than anyone else. Now, suddenly, it is abandoned. Caldwell is puzzled. (Incidentally, I cannot think that Caldwell has adequately confronted Salerno's fundamental work on Hayek and equilibrium. See his brief and inadequate remarks at p. 143, n.14.) | How is one to explain so fundamental a change? Equilibrium had long been at the center of Hayek's thought, a fact that Joseph Salerno has taught us better than anyone else. Now, suddenly, it is abandoned. Caldwell is puzzled. (Incidentally, I cannot think that Caldwell has adequately confronted Salerno's fundamental work on Hayek and equilibrium. See his brief and inadequate remarks at p. 143, n.14.) | ||
I venture to suggest that had Caldwell devoted more attention to Mises, he might have found the answer to his puzzle. For Mises, equilibrium, in his terms the Evenly Rotating Economy, is a purely heuristic concept that can never be realized in practice. By no means is the market to be judged by how closely it matches this artificial construct. Is it too speculative to think that Hayek continued throughout his life to study the writings of someone who had influenced him so much in his youth? If so, perhaps Mises's doubts about equilibrium at some point hit home with Hayek. Certainly, Mises kept up with Hayek's work; and in Human Action, Mises comments at several places on Hayek's views on economic theory. (See, e.g., Mises's rejection of the Ricardo effect, famously championed by Hayek, in Human Action, Scholar's edition, pp. 767 ff.) Of course, this does not prove that Hayek read Mises; and my remarks are no more than conjecture. | I venture to suggest that had Caldwell devoted more attention to Mises, he might have found the answer to his puzzle. For Mises, equilibrium, in his terms the Evenly Rotating Economy, is a purely heuristic concept that can never be realized in practice. By no means is the market to be judged by how closely it matches this artificial construct. Is it too speculative to think that Hayek continued throughout his life to study the writings of someone who had influenced him so much in his youth? If so, perhaps Mises's doubts about equilibrium at some point hit home with Hayek. Certainly, Mises kept up with Hayek's work; and in Human Action, Mises comments at several places on Hayek's views on economic theory. (See, e.g., Mises's rejection of the Ricardo effect, famously championed by Hayek, in Human Action, Scholar's edition, pp. 767 ff.) Of course, this does not prove that Hayek read Mises; and my remarks are no more than conjecture{{ref|5}}. | ||
On one point, I think, we can go further. Caldwell claims that Hayek's theory of the business cycle is "a paradigmatic example of equilibrium theory" (p. 228). If Hayek abandoned equilibrium, how could he continue to maintain, as he did so late as 1978, that the Austrian account of the cycle was in essence valid? Here Mises resolves the supposed difficulty. As he makes clear in Human Action, the Austrian account does not at all depend on the initial assumption of equilibrium, i.e., full employment of all factors of production. (See the section, "The Role Played by Unemployed Factors of Production in the First Stages of a Boom", pp.576–78.) | On one point, I think, we can go further. Caldwell claims that Hayek's theory of the business cycle is "a paradigmatic example of equilibrium theory" (p. 228). If Hayek abandoned equilibrium, how could he continue to maintain, as he did so late as 1978, that the Austrian account of the cycle was in essence valid? Here Mises resolves the supposed difficulty. As he makes clear in Human Action, the Austrian account does not at all depend on the initial assumption of equilibrium, i.e., full employment of all factors of production. (See the section, "The Role Played by Unemployed Factors of Production in the First Stages of a Boom", pp.576–78.) | ||
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# {{note|1}}Caldwell’s decision to ignore Hayek’s work on capital theory leads him to ignore at least one instance of material relevant to the topics he covers. In ''The Pure Theory of Capital'', Hayek has a most valuable discussion of how misleading terms can impede economic analysis. | # {{note|1}}Caldwell’s decision to ignore Hayek’s work on capital theory leads him to ignore at least one instance of material relevant to the topics he covers. In ''The Pure Theory of Capital'', Hayek has a most valuable discussion of how misleading terms can impede economic analysis. | ||
# {{note|2}}A supporter of the theory-ladenness of facts can escape subjectivism if he confines theory to the a priori. Mises took this way out in economics. | # {{note|2}}A supporter of the theory-ladenness of facts can escape subjectivism if he confines theory to the a priori. Mises took this way out in economics. | ||
# {{note|3}}Caldwell states, "I do not now and never have in the past accepted Ludwig von Mises’s a priorism. Indeed, I spent a considerable amount of time during my post-doc year studying Austrian economics at NYU trying to convince a number of Austrians to abandon their commitment to apriorism." (pp.419–20). He does say, though, that if a priorism were compatible with fallibilism, this would remove one of his main objections. | |||
# {{note|4}}I suggest that Quine’s influence on Hayek’s view of the a priori, a topic Caldwell does not explore, warrants attention. Hayek told me that he regarded Quine as "one of our most stimulating epistemologists." | |||
# {{note|5}}Hayek told me in 1969 that he regarded Mises’s Theory and History as worth careful study. | |||
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