The Improprieties of the Pretense of Knowledge

In: The independent review: journal of political economy, Band 17, Heft 2, S. 281-290

Abstract

Today people see a lively interest in plumbing the depths of knowledge. Daniel Kahneman (2011) tells of thinking fast and slow, and Jonathan Haidt (2012) distinguishes minds awake and asleep. In this article, the author considers their knowledge in relation to the tasks for which they use it. By admitting the complexity of the things to be known and by appreciating the richness of knowledge per se, they better assess the adequacy of the knowledge they actually have. The knowledge critique of governmentalization is certainly alive among classical liberals today. One of the curious aspects of knowledge is that as they plumb its depths, they never seem to get to a bottom. Knowledge has its counterpart in action, and their actions emerge from their normative judgments in personal policymaking. On those two steps the author proposes to bring to the traditional Hayekian knowledge problem a prism of Smithian moral analysis. Adapted from the source document.