Merquior, Um Liberista? Uma Comparação Entre O Pensamento Liberal De José Guilherme Merquior E O De Friedrich Von Hayek

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Merquior, Um Liberista? Uma Comparação Entre O Pensamento Liberal De José Guilherme Merquior E O De Friedrich Von Hayek MISES: Revista Interdisciplinar de Filosofia, Direito e Economia ISSN 2318-0811 Volume III, Número 1 (Edição 5) Janeiro-Junho 2015: 215-228 Merquior, um Liberista? Uma Comparação entre o Pensamento Liberal de José Guilherme Merquior e o de Friedrich von Hayek Kaio Felipe* Resumo: Neste ensaio, busco esclarecer a posição ideológica de José Guilherme Mer- quior: seria ele um liberista (isto é, um liberal com ênfase na liberdade econômica) ou um social-liberal (ou seja, mais preocupado com a participação cívica e com o auto-aperfeiçoamento)? Além disso, pretendo analisar como Merquior se coloca em relação às formulações teóricas e políticas de Friedrich August von Hayek, na medi- da em que este é um dos autores liberais mais citados e discutidos em suas obras da década de 1980. Palavras-Chave: Liberdade, Liberalismo, Liberismo, Democracia, Filosofia Política. Merquior, a Liberist? A Comparison of the Liberal Thought of José Guilherme Merquior and Friedrich von Hayek Abstract: In this essay I seek to clarify the ideological viewpoint of José Guilherme Merquior: was he a liberist (i.e., a liberal which emphasizes the economic freedom) or a social-liberal (i.e., more concerned with civic participation and self-improvement)? In addition, I intend to analyze how Merquior stands in relation to theoretical and political formulations of Friedrich August von Hayek, considering that this is one of the liberal authors most cited and discussed in his works of the 1980s. Keywords: Freedom, Liberalism, Liberism, Democracy, Political Philosophy. Classificação JEL: Y80 * Kaio Felipe é doutorando em Sociologia no Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ) e em História Social da Cultura na Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio). Cursou a graduação em Ciência Política na Universidade de Brasília (UnB) e o mestrado em Ciência Política no IESP-UERJ. Foi bolsista do Programa de Educação Tutorial em Ciência Política (PET-POL) e participou do programa de estágio-docência ministrando as disciplinas introdutórias de Sociologia para os cursos de graduação da UERJ. Estuda temas relacionados às áreas de Política e Literatura, Sociologia da Literatura e Teoria Política, tendo pesquisado a representação do conceito de Bildung (formação) nas obras do escritor Thomas Mann e, atualmente, se dedicado ao estudo do pensamento de José Guilherme Merquior. É autor de diversos artigos publicados em diferentes periódicos acadêmicos. E-mail: [email protected] 216 Merquior, um Liberista? Uma Comparação entre o Pensamento Liberal de José Guilherme Merquior e o de Friedrich von Hayek I - Introdução Se na época Benedetto Croce venceu o de- bate, quarenta anos depois Einaudi teria uma Na década de 1920, diante das tensões vitória póstuma: o Ocidente viveu um verda- nacionalistas e das dificuldades econômicas deiro “renascimento liberal” nas décadas de 80 após a I Guerra Mundial, os adeptos do libe- e 90. Os êxitos políticos de lideranças conserva- ralismo clássico encontravam cada vez mais doras (mas identificadas com preceitos libera- dificuldade de“manter a crença de que o advento lizantes) como Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) do capitalismo industrial havia trazido prosperida- e Ronald Reagan (1911-2004) somaram-se à cri- de e liberdade para todos”1. se do Welfare State nos países ocidentais e, prin- Uma das propostas para resolver essa cipalmente, ao colapso do modelo soviético de crise ideológica foi oferecida pelo filósofo socialismo, cujo marco simbólico foi a queda italiano Benedetto Croce (1866-1952), que do Muro de Berlim, em 1989. cunhou o termo liberismo, o qual denotava Foi em meio a tal contexto que o econo- liberdade econômica, para diferenciá-lo do mista Roberto Campos (1917-2001) escreveu liberalismo enquanto preceito ético-político. seu prefácio para o ensaio O Liberalismo: Anti- Enquanto o primeiro conceito teria como co- go e Moderno (1991), a última obra (e, de certa rolário a defesa do capitalismo laissez-faire, o maneira, o testamento intelectual4) do soció- segundo colocaria ênfase maior nas institui- logo e diplomata José Guilherme Merquior ções da democracia liberal. Croce alegou que (1941-1991). Neste prefácio Campos qualifi- resumir o pensamento liberal à sua faceta eco- cou Merquior como um liberista: nomicista seria degradá-lo a um baixo hedo- Em nossas últimas conversas senti que José Guilherme se tornava cada vez mais nismo utilitário2. “liberista”. Neste credo, comungávamos. Pouco após a II Guerra, este filósofo par- O “liberista” é aquele que acredita que, se ticipou de um frutífero debate com o econo- não houver liberdade econômica, as outras mista Luigi Einaudi (1874-1961), presidente liberdades – a civil e a política – desapare- da Itália entre 1948 e 55, o qual acreditava que cem. Na América Latina, a concentração de a liberdade política era indissociável da liber- poder econômico é um exercício liberticida. dade econômica3. Croce, por sua vez, insistia Nosso diagnóstico sobre a moléstia brasi- na necessidade de separar o liberalismo da leira era convergente. Ao Brasil de hoje não ética utilitarista e individualista, acreditando falta liberdade. Falta liberismo5. que esta era uma etapa superada, sendo ne- cessário agora combinar o liberalismo político Roberto Campos considerava que Mer- com o dirigismo econômico, síntese esta que quior era, assim como ele, um liberal clássico geraria o “Estado de bem-estar social” (Welfa- que defendia a incompatibilidade entre liber- re State). dade política e intervencionismo econômico, e, portanto, advogava um modelo de Estado mínimo. A propósito, não apenas Campos, 1 HEYWOOD, Andrew. Ideologias políticas, [v. 1]: do mas também autores à esquerda de Merquior, liberalismo ao fascismo. Trad. Janaína Marcoantonio, como o sociólogo Gilberto Vasconcellos6 ten- Mariane Janikian. São Paulo: Ática, 2010, p. 64. 2 MERQUIOR, José Guilherme. O Liberalismo: Antigo 4 Vide: ROCHA, João Cezar de Castro. A visão do e Moderno. Trad. Henrique de Araújo Mesquita. Rio mundo de José Guilherme Merquior: esta reedição. In: de Janeiro: É Realizações, 2014, p. 174. MERQUIOR. O Liberalismo: Antigo e Moderno, p. 3 Vide: MERQUIOR, José Guilherme. Algumas 324. Reflexões sobre os Liberalismos Contemporâneos. 5 CAMPOS, Roberto. Merquior, o Liberista. In: Rio de Janeiro: Instituto Liberal, 1991, p. 7-11; e MERQUIOR. O Liberalismo: Antigo e Moderno, p. 29. ZANFARINO, Antonio. Liberalismo e Liberismo. Il Confronto Croce-Einaudi. In: Studi e Note di 6 Vide: VASCONCELLOS, Gilberto. A razão da Economia, No. 2, 1996, p. 7-19. acústica. Folha de São Paulo, 15 de Julho de 2001. MISES: Revista Interdisciplinar de Filosofia, Direito e Economia Kaio Felipe 217 dem a alinhá-lo com o neoliberalismo (tomado tâncias nas quais se encontram8) do que a li- aqui como sinônimo de liberismo) preconiza- berdade positiva (isto é, a autonomia, o poder de do por autores como Milton Friedman (1912- satisfazer nossos desejos). 2006) e Friedrich August von Hayek (1899- Hayek não faz sua apologia da liberda- 1992). de a partir de um otimismo antropológico, Considerando que Hayek é justamen- isto é, de uma confiança à moda iluminista no te um dos teóricos liberais mais discutidos potencial da razão humana; pelo contrário, por Merquior em seus ensaios da década de tece duras críticas à mentalidade especulati- 1980, cabe investigar se essa qualificação re- va, “construtivista” e planejadora da tradição almente procede. O propósito deste ensaio racionalista, a qual inclui filósofos franceses é analisar e interpretar o tipo de liberalismo como Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) e defendido por José Guilherme Merquior. Será Condorcet (1743-1794), mas também possui ele realmente um liberista, um neoliberal? Ou expoentes britânicos como Jeremy Bentham estaria, na verdade, alinhado a um liberalis- (1749-1832). Tal linha de pensamento, segun- mo mais sociopolítico do que econômico, tal do Hayek, visava à “edificação de uma utopia como Croce? que se tentou pôr em prática em numerosas oca- siões, sem jamais se conseguir êxito”9. De fato, é se ancorando em certo ceticismo epistemoló- II - “An Unrepentant Old Whig”: gico, inspirado em David Hume (1711-1776), O Liberismo de Hayek que o austríaco justifica a necessidade de limi- tar o escopo do planejamento governamental Antes de tratar da visão de mundo de sobre a ação humana: Merquior, cabe delinear algumas das idéias A liberdade é essencial para que o imprevi- sível exista; nós a desejamos porque apren- centrais de F. A. Hayek, mais especificamente demos a esperar dela a oportunidade de as apresentadas em suas obras Os Fundamen- realizar a maioria dos nossos objetivos. (...) tos da Liberdade (1960) e Direito, Legislação e Li- Por mais humilhante que seja para o orgu- berdade (1973-1979), na medida em que é sobre lho humano, devemos reconhecer que o ambas que Merquior mais se posiciona. progresso e até a preservação da civilização Em Os Fundamentos da Liberdade, Hayek dependem de um máximo de oportunida- adere a um conceito de liberdade como au- des para que as coisas possam acontecer10. sência de coerção: a propriedade privada e o direito individual de escolha devem ser res- Ainda no segundo capítulo de Os Fun- peitados, não podendo ficar sob controle ar- damentos da Liberdade, F. A. Hayek faz uma bitrário de uma força externa (geralmente o defesa utilitária da liberdade. Primeiro alega Estado). Traduzindo tal posição na dicotomia que “o importante não é o tipo de liberdade que de Isaiah Berlin (1909-1997)7, pode-se dizer eu próprio gostaria de exercer e sim o tipo de li- que Hayek é mais favorável à liberdade nega- berdade de que alguém pode necessitar para bene- tiva (entendida como não-interferência sobre ficiar a sociedade”11. Em seguida afirma que os a forma de os indivíduos usarem as circuns- benefícios da liberdade existem mesmo que 8 HAYEK, Friedrich August von. Os Fundamentos da Liberdade. Trad. Anna Maria Capovilla e José Ítalo Disponível em: <http://www1.folha.uol.com.br/fsp/ Stelle. Brasília / São Paulo: Editora Universidade de mais/fs1507200111.htm>.
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