Abstract
In Chap. 2 I analyzed Hayek’s criticism of behaviorism and other psychological theories. The purpose of Chap. 3 is to show that similar arguments concerning the interpretative nature of cognition and the complexity of mind, which Hayek developed against materialistic psychologies, can also be used to undermine the socio-cultural determinism of methodological holism. The possibility that socio-cultural determinism can be criticized by using the idea that the mind is a self-organizing system is discussed only briefly in Hayek’s (1952b) The Sensory Order. However, the way in which Hayek used this idea to challenge socio-cultural determinism was his most original criticism of the theory of the heteronomy of sociological holism.
This chapter draws directly from my chapter “Cognitive Autonomy and Epistemology of Action in Hayek’s and Merleau-Ponty’s Thought”. In R. Frantz and R. Leeson eds. Hayek and Behavioral Economics (with a foreword by Vernon Smith). London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Agonito, R. 1975. Hayek revisited: Mind as a process of classification. Behaviorism: A Forum for Critical Discussions 3(2): 162–171.
Antiseri, D., and L. Pellicani. 1995. L’individualismo metodologico: Una polemica sul mestiere dello scienziato sociale. Milan: Franco Angeli.
Barbaras, R. 2005. A phenomenology of life. In The Cambridge companion to Merleau-Ponty, ed. T. Carman, and M.B.N. Hansen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Boettke, P.J. 1990. Interpretative reasoning and the study of social life. Methodus 2(2).
Boudon, R. 1994. The art of self-persuasion. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Boudon, R., and F. Bourricaud. 1990. A critical dictionary of sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Butos, W.N., and R.G. Koppl. 2006. Does the sensory order have a useful economic future? In Advances in Austrian Economics, Vol. 8, ed. E. Krecke, and K. Krecke. Oxford: JAI Press.
Caldwell, B. 2007. Hayek’s challenge: An intellectual biography of F. A. Hayek. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Campagnolo, G. 2013. Criticisms of classical political economy: Menger, Austrian economics and the German historical school. London /New York: Routledge.
Carman, T., and Hansen, M.B.N. 2005. Introduction. The Cambridge companion to Merleau-Ponty. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Cubeddu, R. 1996. Tra Scuola austriaca e Popper. Edizioni scientifiche italiane, Napoli: Sulla filosofia delle scienze sociali.
Cubeddu, R. 1997. The critique of Max Weber in Mises’ Privatseminar, Cahiers d’épistémologie, 9703/233. Montréal, QC: Université du Québec à Montréal.
Di Iorio, F. 2009. Hayek’s connectionist psychology as a defense for the sociology of good reasons. In Raymond Boudon: A life in sociology. Essays in honour of Raymond Boudon, Vols. 4. ed. Cherkaoui, M. and P. Hamilton. Oxford: The Bardwell Press.
Di Iorio, F. 2010. The sensory order and the neurophysiological basics of methodological individualism. In The social science of Hayek’s “The sensory order”, ed. W.N. Butos. Bingley, UK: Emerald.
Di Iorio, F. 2013. Cognitive autonomy and epistemology of action in Hayek’s and Merleau-Ponty’s thought. In Hayek and behavioral economics (with a foreword by Vernon Smith), ed. R. Frantz, and R. Leeson. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Di Nuoscio, E. 2006. Il mestiere dello scienziato sociale: Un’introduzione all’epistemologia delle scienze sociali. Naples: Liguori.
Di Nuoscio, E. 2011. Epistemologia del dialogo: Una difesa filosofica del confronto pacifico tra culture. Rome: Carrocci.
Dreyfus, H.L., and S.E. Dreyfus. 2000. Mind over machine. The power of human intuition and expertise in the era of the computer. New York: Free Press.
Durkheim, É. 1982. The rules of sociological method, and selected texts on sociology and its method. London: Macmillan.
Elster, J. 1985. Making sense of Marx. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Freud, S. 1949. The ego and the Id. London: The Hogarth Press.
Gray, J. 1986. Hayek on liberty. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
Hayek, F.A. 1952a. The counter-revolution of science studies on the abuse of reason. Indianapolis, IN: Liberty Press.
Hayek, F.A. 1952b. The sensory order: An inquiry into the foundations of theoretical psychology. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Hayek, F.A. 1967. Studies in philosophy, politics and economics. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F.A. 1973. Law, legislation and liberty, Vol. 1: Rules and order. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Hayek, F.A. 1978. New studies in philosophy, politics, economics and the history of ideas. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Heritier, P. 1997. Ordine spontaneo ed evoluzione nel pensiero di Hayek. Naples: Jovene.
Husserl, E. 1970. The crisis of European sciences and transcendental phenomenology: An introduction to phenomenological philosophy. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Klüver, H. 1952. Introduction, F. A. Hayek the sensory order. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Madison, G.B. 1994. Phenomenology and economics. In The Elgar companion to economics, ed. P.J. Boettke. Aldershot, UK: Edward Elgar.
Marsh, L. 2010a. Ryle and Oakeshott on the know-how/know-that distinction. In The meanings of Michael Oakeshott’s conservatism, ed. C. Abel. Exeter: Imprint Academic.
Marsh, L. 2010b. Hayek: Cognitive scientist avant la lettre. Advances in Austrian Economics 13: 115–155.
Marx, K. 1967. A contribution to the critique of political economy. New York: International Publishers.
Menger, C. 1985. Investigations into the method of the social sciences with special reference to economics. New York/London: New York University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1960. Signes. Paris: Gallimard.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1964a. The primacy of perception: And other essays on phenomenological psychology, the philosophy of art, history and politics. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 1964b. Sense and nonsense. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 2002. Phenomenology of perception. London/New York: Routledge.
Merleau-Ponty, M. 2006. The structure of behavior. Pittsburg, PA: Duquesne University Press.
Moran, D. 2000. Introduction to phenomenology. London/New York: Routledge.
Nadeau, R. 1997. Hayek and the complex affair of the mind. In Sixty-seventh Annual Conference of the Southern Economic Association, Atlanta, Georgia, 21–23 November.
Nadeau, R. 2001a. Friedrich Hayek et la théorie de l’esprit. In La philosophie autrichienne de Bolzano a Musil: Histoire et actualité, ed. J.-P. Cometti, and K. Mulligan. Paris: Vrin.
Nadeau, R. 2001b. Sur l’antiphysicalisme de Hayek: Essai d’elucidation. Revue de Philosophie Economique. 1(3): 67–112.
Nemo, P. 1988. La société de droit selon Hayek. Paris: Puf.
Peillon, V. 1994. La tradition de l’esprit: Itinéraire de Maurice Merleau-Ponty. Paris: Grasset.
Petitot, J. 2002. Vers des lumières hayekiennes: de la critique du rationalisme constructiviste è un nouveau rationalisme critique. In Friedrich Hayek et la philosophie économique: Après le Colloque de Cerisy. Revue de Philosophie économique 2 ed. Leroux, A., and R. Nadeau.
Petitot, J. 2003. Morphodynamical enaction: The case of color. In Bacigalupo, J., and Palacios, A.G. ed. Biological research: A Tribute to Francisco Varela 36(1): 107–112.
Petitot, J. 2006a. Modèles formels de la “main invisible”: de Hayek à la théorie des jeux évolutionniste. In Histoire du libéralisme en Europe, ed. Nemo, P., and J. Petitot. Paris: Puf.
Petitot, J. 2006b. Libéralisme et liberté: Hayek avec Kant ou une éthique de la finitude. In Histoire du libéralisme en Europe, ed. Nemo, P., and J. Petitot. Paris: Puf.
Petitot, J., J.F. Varela, B. Pachoud, and J.-M. Roy. 1999. Beyond the gap: An introduction to naturalizing phenomenology. In Naturalizing phenomenology: Issues in contemporary phenomenology and cognitive science, ed. J. Petitot, J.F. Varela, B. Pachoud, and J.-M. Roy. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Rouse, J. 2005. Merleau-Ponty’s existential conception of science. In The Cambridge companion to Merleau-Ponty, ed. T. Carman, and M.B.N. Hansen. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Smith, B. 1996. In defense of extreme (fallibilistic) apriorism. Journal of Libertarian Studies 12: 179–192.
Smith, B. 1997. The connectionist mind: A study of Hayekian psychology. In Hayek economist and social philosopher: A critical retrospect, ed. S.F. Frowen. London: Macmillan.
Thompson, E. 2007. Mind in life: Biology, phenomenology, and the sciences of mind. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Thompson, E., A. Palacios, and F. Varela. 1992. Ways of coloring: Comparative color vision as a case study in cognitive science. Behavioral and Brain Science 15: 1–45.
Udehn, L. 2001. Methodological individualism: Background, history and meaning. London/New York: Routledge.
Varela, F.J. 1979. Principles of biological autonomy. North-Holland/New York: Elsevier.
Varela, F., E. Thompson, and E. Rosch. 1991. The embodied mind: Cognitive science and human experience. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Zanotti G. 2007. Intersubjectivity, subjectivism, social sciences, and the Austrian school of economics. Journal of Market & Morality 10(1) (Spring 2007): 115–141.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Di Iorio, F. (2015). From Cognitive Autonomy to the Criticism of Socio-cultural Determinism. In: Cognitive Autonomy and Methodological Individualism. Studies in Applied Philosophy, Epistemology and Rational Ethics, vol 22. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19512-4_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19512-4_3
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19511-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19512-4
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawPhilosophy and Religion (R0)