Methodological Individualism and Society: Hayek’s Evolving View

A core topic of the present volume is the methodologically individualist approach of the Austrian School. In particular, we are concerned to understand how—and whether—this individualistic methodology can help us to understand the workings of society. To address this we turn in this chapter to Friedrich Hayek’s lucid discussion of the matter in the Economica articles published during the Second World War (Hayek 1942, 1943, 1944) and subsequently collected in the Counter-Revolution of Science (1979), first published in 1952. We are particularly concerned with chapters 3 and 4, “The Subjective Character of the Social Sciences” and “The Individualist and ‘Compositive’ Method of the Social Sciences” (1979: 41–60 and 61–76). The conclusion drawn is that there is much to commend Hayek’s vision of the operation of social science—indeed this is a sophisticated and illuminating discussion. Nevertheless, it is marred by his methodological individualism—the idea that social science must start with parts and reconstitute the whole, while natural science starts with wholes and by analysis attempts to retrieve the parts. A particular feature of Hayek’s discussion is his deployment of what Daniel Dennett has come to call the “intentional stance.” A discussion of Hayek’s application of this approach to social evolution in his later works shows how he himself breaks with the mistaken precepts of his individualist methodology. Other chapters in this volume, particularly those by diZerega and Nell, also take up aspects of Hayeks intellectual journey, which led him to question or abandon elements of traditional Austrian methodology.