A Commentary On Hayek's Theory Of Rules

Hayek is a very famous libertarian in the twentieth century, and his theory of rules is a point of great originality in his theoretical contributions. With regard to the theory of rules, Hayek integrates the Scottish Enlightenment's theory of culture evolution and the kantian notion of universilizability. He thinks that the culture is composed of a series of learned rules, and just these evolved abstract general rules make the human kind get rid of the savage and get into the free and prosperous Great Society.The reason I select Hayek's thought of rules as the object of study is that I think this study could improve our understanding of the Hayek's theory of liberty, and it could provide some new theory resources for our study about the theory of rules. Since the discussions about rules are not in a set in Hayek's works, I aim to expound the main points of Hayek's theory of rules by the method of theoretical reconstruction in this thesis.Section I introduces Hayek's thoughts about the system of human culture in brief. According to Hayek, the system of rules is made up of many levels. Among them three levels are very important, namely inherited rules, learned rules and designed rules respectively. And then Hayek emphasizes that the second level, namely learned rules, is the most important and the basic one of the system.Section II focuses on the "Hayek's question", that is about the contradiction between Hayek's thoughts of rules and his theory of order. With regard to this question, I have the opinion that this contradiction doesn't exist in essence in Hayek's theory system. He just combines Smith question with "Mengerian" question, and sets up his own theory of rule classification and order classification, He makes the distinction between internal order and external order, as well as between internal rule and external rule. And then he elaborates on the significant effect that rule takes during the formation, maintenance and development oforder.The introduction of Hayek's experiential description of human culture constitutes the third section. According to Hayek, mankind evolved from closed small group society to the free and open Great Society. During this process, different rules had different effects at different historical phases. For example, the innate character of closed society is teleocracy, and the rules all attached themselves to purposes. But in the Great Society, the innate character is nomocracy, and the power of general abstract rules is being brought into full play.Section IV discusses the relationship between Hayek's theory of rules and the "knowledge problem". Hayek points out the differentiation between "specialized knowledge" and "general knowledge". And then he claims that "specialized knowledge" is always dispersive and incomplete, we can only put it to use by making use of all kinds of learned rules. Hayek also argues that our knowledge includes "articulated knowledge" and "unarticulated knowledge". Meanwhile, many learned rules belong to "non-articulated rules" and they contain a great deal of "unarticulated knowledge".Section V pays attention to the tension between rationalism and evolutionism in Hayek's thoughts. Hayek is strongly opposed to constructivist rationalism and advocates critical or evolutionary rationalism. He thinks that Humans Ration is the outcome of evolution, therefore, we can only look over rules by the way of negative immanent criticism and unceasingly erase those rules inconsistent with the Great Society,. And then we would converge to follow the same rules of just conduct.