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Constructivism, Cultural Evolution, and Spontaneous Order

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Encyclopedia of Law and Economics

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Definition

This essay describes two completely different approaches which have been distinguished by Friedrich A. Hayek, the “constructivist” one and the “evolutionary” one, to the problem of how to develop institutions appropriate for the achievement of a desirable society. It does it by detailing Hayek’s analysis of the two approaches. First, the essay describes the “constructivist” contention that only institutions deliberately adopted by certain competent persons are likely to achieve a desirable society. Then, it presents the “evolutionary” viewpoint defended by Hayek, according to which a lot of beneficial institutions can be discovered only through spontaneous, undesigned growth.

Constructivism

Hayek uses the term “constructivist rationalists” to designate a large and diverse group of scholars which includes Bacon, Descartes, Hobbes, Leibniz, Spinoza, Voltaire, Rousseau, Bentham, Austin, Hegel, Marx, Comte, Saint-Simon, and the American Institutionalists. These scholars, Hayek...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PHARE, University Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France

    Régis Servant

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  1. Régis Servant
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Correspondence to Régis Servant .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. MRE and University of Montpellier, Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  2. Faculté d’Economie, Université de Montpellier and LAMETA-UMR CNRS, Montpellier, France

    Alain Marciano

  3. DiGSPES, University of Eastern Piedmont, Alessandria, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

  4. IEL, Torino, Italy

    Giovanni Battista Ramello

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Servant, R. (2019). Constructivism, Cultural Evolution, and Spontaneous Order. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_756

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