The Political Sociology of Freedom: Adam Ferguson And F.A. Hayek (New Thinking in Political Economy Series)

By Ronald Hamowy

Adam Ferguson and Friedrich Hayek, separated by a period of almost two hundred years, made original but similar contributions to the field of theoretical sociology. In this collection of essays, Ronald Hamowy explores the life and work of these two thinkers, giving special emphasis to their insights into the diffusion of knowledge. Ferguson, a giant of the Scottish Enlightenment, can be credited with laying the foundations of theoretical history by first proposing the idea that social institutions undergo evolutionary change. He theorized that while these institutions are formed by the actions of human beings, they are not the product of human design. Less than two centuries later, Hayek extended this insight to dealing with economic and social interaction, arguing that the knowledge requisite for structuring the social institutions under which we live is far too complex to be comprehended by any one mind or group of thinkers, ...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1845421086
• ISBN13: 9781845421083
• Release Date: December 2005
• Publisher: Edward Elgar
• Length: 288 Pages
• Weight: 1.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.3" x 1.0" x 6.0"