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Fighting for the Mantle of Science: the Epistemological Foundations of Neoliberalism, 1931-1951

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Fighting for the Mantle of Science: the Epistemological Foundations of Neoliberalism, 1931-1951 Université de Montréal Fighting for the Mantle of Science: The Epistemological Foundations of Neoliberalism, 1931-1951 par Martin Beddeleem Département de science politique Faculté des arts et des sciences Thèse présentée en vue de l’obtention du grade de Philosophiæ Doctor (Ph.D.) en science politique Décembre 2017 © Martin Beddeleem, 2017 RÉSUMÉ Cette thèse examine la genèse intellectuelle du néolibéralisme au prisme de son épistémologie. Elle interroge le développement de ses arguments concernant la production et la diffusion de la connaissance, guidée par l’hypothèse que la formulation d’une position épistémologique commune a été cruciale pour la consolidation de son programme idéologique. Je propose que le néolibéralisme, en provoquant une rupture avec le libéralisme classique, a opéré un recodage des principes libéraux à l’intérieur d’un cadre épistémologique basé sur le conventionnalisme, à l’aide de prémisses tirées des sciences naturelles, de la théorie économique, et de la philosophie des sciences. Afin d’obtenir un panorama contextuel de son émergence, cette thèse fournit une reconstruction des débats intellectuels des années 1930 en Angleterre sur deux plans principaux : le débat sur la planification de la science, et celui sur la planification de l’économie. Dans un climat propice aux idées planistes, perçues comme davantage rationnelles et scientifiques, les néolibéraux précoces s’attelèrent à montrer la portée limitée de la science positive pour orienter les décisions politiques. La montée du totalitarisme contribua à donner à leur discours une urgence singulière, puisqu’il expliquait le recours au collectivisme étatique par la prégnance d’opinions scientifiques erronées. Pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, la formation d’un réseau néolibéral déclencha une fertilisation croisée entre ces différents penseurs, dont l’agenda commun avait été défini au moment du Colloque Walter-Lippmann en 1938. En développant leurs intuitions sur le fonctionnement interne de la science et de l’économie comme modèles de coopération libre, Michael Polanyi, Friedrich Hayek, Louis Rougier, Walter Lippmann, et Karl Popper, élaborèrent une théorie sociale cohérente, qui supportaient les idéaux libéraux sur de nouvelles bases épistémologiques. Pour eux, le désir de mener une politique « scientifique » relevait d’un aveuglement méthodologique issu d’une mécompréhension de la nature de la connaissance et du travail scientifique, ainsi que d’une conception disproportionnée de leur potentiel. En reliant de manière analogique la liberté scientifique, avec celle garantie par le marché ou la règle de droit, la position de la pensée et de la connaissance dans la société est devenue leur préoccupation principale. Ce recodage met en lumière la forme particulière de l’idéologie néolibérale : la compétition et les marchés sont redéfinis comme procédures de découverte, les traditions sont perçues comme des réservoirs de connaissance tacite, et les institutions sont conçues comme les préconditions et les résultats d’ordres spontanés. L’institutionnalisation de ce collectif de pensée fragmentaire lors de la fondation de la Société du Mont-Pèlerin en 1947 révéla à la fois l’ambition idéologique de ce projet et ses limites immédiates. Mots-clés : épistémologie, Friedrich Hayek, histoire des sciences, idéologie, Louis Rougier, Michael Polanyi, néolibéralisme, Société du Mont-Pèlerin, sociologie de la connaissance, Walter Lippmann i ABSTRACT This dissertation examines the intellectual genesis of neoliberalism through the prism of its epistemology. It interrogates the development of its arguments regarding the production and diffusion of knowledge, guided by the hypothesis that formulating a common epistemological stance was crucial for the consolidation of its ideological program. I propose that early neoliberalism, by provoking a rupture with classical liberalism, recoded liberal principles into an epistemological framework based on conventionalism, with premises drawn from the natural sciences, economic theory, and the philosophy of science. To achieve a contextual picture of its emergence, the dissertation provides a reconstruction of the intellectual debates of the 1930s in England on two major fronts: the debate on planning in science, and the debate on planning in the economy. Amidst a general enthusiasm for planning ideas perceived as being more rational and scientific, early neoliberals warned of the limited value of positive science in guiding policy decisions. The rise of totalitarianism gave their discourse a dramatic urgency as it explicitly linked faulty scientific views with the rise of state collectivism. During the Second World War, the formation of a neoliberal network triggered a cross-fertilization between these early neoliberal thinkers, whose common agenda had been defined at the Walter-Lippmann Colloquium in 1938. Drawing from their intuitions about the inner workings of science and the economy held as models of free cooperation, Michael Polanyi, Friedrich Hayek, Louis Rougier, Walter Lippmann, and Karl Popper, cemented a coherent social theory which vindicated liberal ideals on new epistemological grounds. To them, the aspiration towards ‘scientific’ politics denoted a methodological delusion built on a misunderstanding of the nature of knowledge and of scientific work, as well as on a hubristic conception of their potential. By linking analogically the freedom experienced by the scientist, to the one guaranteed by the market or by the rule of law, the position of thought and knowledge in society became their core concern. Paying attention to this recoding process sheds light on the peculiar shape of neoliberal ideology: competition and markets were redefined as discovery procedures, traditions were seen as receptacles of tacit knowledge, and institutions were conceived as the preconditions and results of dynamic evolutionary orders. The institutionalization of this fragmentary thought collective at the foundation of the Mont-Pèlerin Society in 1947 revealed both the novelty of this project and its immediate limits, in particular the tensions between its scientific ambition and its ideological projection. Key words: epistemology, Friedrich Hayek, history of science, ideology, Louis Rougier, Michael Polanyi, Mont-Pèlerin Society, neoliberalism, sociology of knowledge, Walter Lippmann iii CONTENTS RÉSUMÉ ................................................................................................................................................................... I ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................................................................... III CONTENTS ............................................................................................................................................................... V LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .............................................................................................................................................. IX LIST OF ARCHIVAL COLLECTIONS ................................................................................................................................... XI ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................................................................. XIII INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................. 1 Literature Review ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Method and sources used .............................................................................................................................. 22 Plan of the dissertation .................................................................................................................................. 29 CHAPTER 1. PLANNING SCIENCE ...................................................................................................................... 31 PART 1. A NEW VISION OF SCIENCE .................................................................................................................... 32 The 1931 London Congress ............................................................................................................................ 32 Boris Hessen’s paper ...................................................................................................................................... 37 Birth pangs of the social relations of science ................................................................................................. 39 PART 2. THE SOCIAL RELATIONS OF SCIENCE AND BERNALISM .......................................................................... 42 The politicization of British scientists ............................................................................................................. 42 Organization on the Left ................................................................................................................................ 46 The social relations of science movement ..................................................................................................... 50 PART 3. MICHAEL POLANYI: ANTITOTALITARIAN CHEMIST ............................................................................... 61 Clarity and opacity in a liberal economy.......................................................................................................
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