Hayek and the future of political philosophy

Hayek’s work suggests ideas that have not been recognised and assimilated into the mainstream of political thought. For example, the discovery of moral imperfections in our society does not in itself show that there is necessarily any better way of organizing things. A critique is offered on this basis of Karl Popper’s approach to politics, and of American-style pluralism. It is argued that we might address the problems that these ideas generate by a combination of self-conscious critical reflection, and of people’s being allowed to choose between different systematic ways of life; e.g. by way of private communities. Second, we can generalize from Hayek, s critique of the ideal of social justice. Many ideas which might look attractive at the level of consensual political dialogue may not in fact be realizable. Normative political theory should be practised hand in hand with a social science that indicates the limitations of what we can achieve.