Online Library of Liberty - The Tradition of Spontaneous Order: A Bibliographical Essay by Norman Barry (oll.libertyfund.org)
- Highlight Loc. 458-63 | Added on Friday, January 06, 2012, 12:07 AM
It is curious why Hayek should pay so little attention to Spencer's social science and philosophy. What is even more remarkable is that the influence of evolution had a corrosive effect on both their systems. For if the criterion of social value is survival in an evolutionary process, what can be said against those institutions which, although they may embody anti-liberal values, have survived? Spencer was faced with this problem during his lifetime because of the rise and political success of socialist institutions and measures which he claimed belonged to a pre-industrial state of social evolution. As we shall see below, Hayek is faced with the problem that undesigned institutions may develop in a number of different ways, including anti-liberal ways.
