Notions of order and process in Hayek: the significance of emergence

lewis, paul;

This article explores the notions of order and process to which Friedrich Hayek
subscribed. It is argued that a satisfactory understanding of Hayek�s conceptions of
�order� and �process��and in particular a clear understanding of those how the two
concepts relate to each other in his scheme of thought�requires an appreciation of
the ontological categories of �emergence� and �emergent properties�. Ultimately, for
Hayek the capacity of liberal market economies to co-ordinate people�s actions in
the face of tacit and dispersed knowledge is an emergent property that arises only
when people�s interactions are governed by certain sets of rules. This static analysis
of the co-ordinative powers of the market as an emergent property of a given system
of rules must be supplemented by a dynamic account of the process through which
the set of rules in question comes into being. Hayek provides such an account in
his account of society as developing through a multi-level evolutionary process. Key
implications of Hayek�s accounts of order and process for debates about the coordinative
powers of free market economies are drawn out.