An Attempt to Understand the Nature and Origin of Hayek's Transformation
AN ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF HAYEK’S TRANSFORMATION by Erik Angner BA, Uppsala University, 1995 MA, Uppsala University, 1997 Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of FAS in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Pittsburgh 2004 UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH FACULTY OF ARTS AND SCIENCES This dissertation was presented by Erik Angner It was defended on October 22, 2004 and approved by Steven Husted, Professor, Economics Henry Krips, Professor, Communication Nicholas Rescher, University Professor, Philosophy Mark Perlman, University Professor (Emeritus), Economics Dissertation Director ii AN ATTEMPT TO UNDERSTAND THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF HAYEK’S TRANSFORMATION Erik Angner, PhD University of Pittsburgh, 2004 Although the work of F. A. Hayek (1899-1992) has attracted a good deal of attention in recent years, many important questions about the nature and origin of his thought remain unanswered. This is particularly true regarding his so-called “transformation,” during which he all but abandoned technical economics and instead decided to pursue broader questions in political and social philosophy. In this dissertation I examine the system of beliefs that guided his thought, and argue that a number of important questions can be usefully addressed by seeing Hayek in the light of the Natural Law tradition. I argue that there are important reasons to consider Hayek part of this tradition. Many of the central ideas of Natural Law doctrine (especially as they appear in the classical liberal philosophers of the 18th century) are clearly present in Hayek’s work, and he was, as a matter of fact, under the governing influence of the Natural Law tradition for most of his life.
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