Liberalism, Unintended Orders and Evolutionism

• Published in: Political studies Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 251 - 272
• Main Author: Paul, Ellen Frankel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.06.1988; SAGE Publications; Clarendon Press
• Subjects: Evolution; Ideology; Liberalism; Political Philosophy; Social Darwinism; Social Philosophy
• ISSN: 0032-3217; 1467-9248
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-9248.1988.tb00228.x

There is something gravely amiss about a liberalism based upon evolutionism, as F. A. Hayek bases his endorsement of the free, open, or ‘Great Society’. Such a society—one based upon individual liberty, autonomy, and free-market institutions —is not guaranteed by the evolutionary process, as Hayek's own indictment of twentieth-century totalitarianism in The Road to Serfdom amply demonstrated. In the first section of this paper, I explore some of the pitfalls for a liberalism grounded on evolutionary foundations: a relucance to tamper with existing institutions which borders on traditionalism; a tension between individualism and holism, the latter born of an evolutionist's concern for the survival of the group; and a relativism derived from evolutionism which seems ill-suited to a liberalism which values freedom. The last two sections of the paper examine some striking connections between Hayek's liberalism and that of William Graham Sumner and Herbert Spencer. While there are important differences between Hayek's and Sumner's positions, on the one hand, and Spencer's, on the other, all three suffer from a common problem: their liberalism sits uneasily upon evolutionary foundations.