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The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism

Friedrich A. Hayek

Paperback | Pages: 194 pages

Rating: 4.25 | 1685 Users | 96 Reviews

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Title	:	The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism
Author	:	Friedrich A. Hayek
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Anniversary Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 194 pages
Published	:	August 28th 1991 by University of Chicago Press (first published 1988)
Categories	:	Economics. Politics. Philosophy. Nonfiction. History. Political Science. Sociology

Explanation Conducive To Books The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism

Hayek gives the main arguments for the free-market case and presents his manifesto on the "errors of socialism." Hayek argues that socialism has, from its origins, been mistaken on factual, and even on logical, grounds and that its repeated failures in the many different practical applications of socialist ideas that this century has witnessed were the direct outcome of these errors. He labels as the "fatal conceit" the idea that "man is able to shape the world around him according to his wishes."

"The achievement of The Fatal Conceit is that it freshly shows why socialism must be refuted rather than merely dismissed—then refutes it again."—David R. Henderson, Fortune.

"Fascinating. . . . The energy and precision with which Mr. Hayek sweeps away his opposition is impressive."—Edward H. Crane, Wall Street Journal

F. A. Hayek is considered a pioneer in monetary theory, the preeminent proponent of the libertarian philosophy, and the ideological mentor of the Reagan and Thatcher "revolutions."

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Original Title:	The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism
ISBN:	0226320669 (ISBN13: 9780226320663)
Edition Language:	English

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Ratings: 4.25 From 1685 Users | 96 Reviews

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A work of some intellectual merit. I (not surprisingly) disagree with both Hayek's premises--he is fond of elevating his dogmatic assertions to the height of mathematical axioms, and his conclusions, but unlike his other works, there is less dogma here and a greater willingness to engage in debate with the reader.

F.A. Hayek takes a logical approach to explaining why socialism (i.e. government control of markets) doesn't work. He explores the historical origins of markets as well as many of the economic theories of his contemporaries.He gets into some fascinating subjects. A few that I thought were interesting were- He explores how the theories of John Maynard Keynes are are amoral and how free markets are actually more moral than socialized markets- He explores how religion has affected markets and the

This is not light reading, but it gives an interesting argument to explain the current state of affairs in the world today and the problems associated with socialist thought. My complaint about Hayek is that he's excruciatingly exacting. He's the kind of person who picks a very particular word to have a very particular meaning and anything outside that meaning is totally foreign. This kind of mindset leads to some rough reading.

"it is important to avoid, right from the start, a notion that stems from what I call the 'fatal conceit': the idea that the ability to acquire skills stems from reason. For it is the other way around: our reason is as much the result of an evolutionary selection process as is our morality. It stems however from a somewhat seperate development, so that one should never suppose that our reason is in the higher critical position and that only those moral rules are valid that reason endorses."Hayek

My favorite part was the chapter on the loss of meaning in our language. He examines how different groups hijack terms and alter them to suit their own meaning. Particularly, he looks at the word 'society'. He shows how it was co-opted to mean 'government' by Marx for his purposes, then it became a word you could put in front of 120+ other words as an adjective to the point that we don't even know what the word means any more.He talks about how order rises from chaos naturally through

This was a beast of a book. Don't let the 140 pages fool you, this book took me a long time to plough through. Hayek is no idiot. His arguments are just very, very deep. He takes apart the arguments for socialism from about every angle. Would I recommend this for anyone interest in politics, history or philosophy, Yes! But be ready for tough read.

I agree with his premise about man's Fatal Conceit in attempting to order an economy -- men are too sinful -- too stupid to do it successfully. Hayek has a Fatal Flaw -- his evolutionary materialism gives him no "rationally justifiable" basis for morality. All he has is tradition, and "traditional values." Another problem is his insistence on society being governed by a "spontaneous order." This is ideologically different from Adam Smith's "invisible hand," which any Christian quickly recognizes