A Study On F.A. Hayek's Ideology Of Equality

F. A. Hayek, a leader of liberalism, firmly disapproves of subjective planning and arrangements for social system. He clears up the philosophical basis of the methodology of subjective design through the discussion of the theory of human's ignorance and points out that in facing the infiniteness and the complicated situations of the world, since human beings cannot forecast the future tendency of all things, the only reliable way the subjects should adopt is to remain the utmost opportunity for the unknown things. To ensure the normal development of the society, the subjects should insist upon the evolution of routine culture, that is, the natural evolutional laws of restraining the human's behavior such as traditional convention, practice and customs. According to Hayek, although a human being is ignorant, he can take correct actions against ignorance thanks to the traditional ha hits. Protecting the liberty is avoiding the damage to routine culture. However this thesis suggests that the theory of ignorance and evolution of routine culture begin to separate from each other when both of them are applied to the practical situations of innate justice from individual birth. In terms of the theory of ignorance, all individuals have the same opportunities, while in terms of the theory of the evolution of routine culture, human beings should avoid being deprived of the benefits of advantageous positions brought about by their birth.In Hayek's theory, only the latter is his aim to discuss, whereas he describes "the same opportunity" as the chance equality of obeying principles. Must equality and liberty be in conflict in innate justice? On the basis of theoretical research into the contemporary liberalists such as John Rawls, Robert Nozick, and R. Dworkin, this thesis maintains that equality and liberty are not incontradiction with each other in innate justice. In particular, the theory of "opportunity cost" of R. Dworkin, on the perfectly practical evidence of the existence of equality under liberty, is similar to the Hayek's theory of ignorance which implies the meaning that has not been observed by Hayek himself who develops his theory from the perspective of practical politics or ideology.This thesis falls into five parts. Part One starts with the views of Hayek's thoughts and points out the characteristics of practically political and ideological purposes. Part Two presents Hayek's argument about liberty and reveals the nature of eliminating the theoretical basis of the concept of equality. Part Three demonstrates Hayek's moral standard of judgment about equality and liberty and shows that Hayek's principle of justice is only a system of principle along with cultural evolution, which conveys Hayek's regret. Part Four illustrates different values of modern liberalists in discussing the innate justice, notices the harmony between equality and liberty and depicts the regret of Hayek's argument based on the ideology of political aims. The last part is a conclusion, which deals with the background source of the conflict of Hayek's theory and offers the reason for forgiving Hayek.