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On the extreme wing of libertarian ideology are the individualist anarchists, who wish to dispense with government altogether. The quasi-legitimate functions now performed by government, such as the administration of justice, can, the anarchists claim, be provided in the marketplace.George H. Smith

Decisive for the question of the feasibility of various versions of market socialism is the issue of the basic cognitive function markets are expected to provide. Three increasingly comprehensive interpretations of the cognitive function of markets, labeled computation, incentives, and discovery, are described and contrasted. Depending on how the basic cognitive role of markets is interpreted, very different judgments are possible on the feasibility of market socialism. Two types of market socialism are examined in terms of these approaches, and their shortcomings are attributed to their incomplete appreciation of the way knowledge is created, discovered, and conveyed in market processes.

THE ISSUE OF THE BASIC COGNITIVE FUNCTION MARKETS ARE EXPECTED TO PROVIDE IS DECISIVE FOR THE QUESTION OF THE FEASIBILITY OF VARIOUS VERSIONS OF MARKET SOCIALISM. IN THIS PAPER, THE AUTHOR DESCRIBES AND CONTRASTS THREE INTERPRETATIONS OF THE COGNITIVE FUNCTION OF MARKETS--COMPUTATION, INCENTIVES, AND DISCOVERY. HE EXAMINES TWO TYPES OF MARKET SOCIALISM IN TERMS OF THESE APPROACHES. DEPENDING ON HOW THE BASIC COGNITIVE ROLE OF MARKETS IS INTERPRETED, VERY DIFFERENT JUDGMENTS ARE POSSIBLE ON THE FEASIBILITY OF MARKET SOCIALISM.

In response to a review by David Ramsay Steele (see abstract in SA 38:1) of National Economic Planning: What Is Left? (Lavoie, Don, Cambridge, Mass: Ballinger, 1985), one aspect of Michael Polanyi's philosophy is defended from Steele's critique. Steele enumerated five senses of the word "objectivity" & hazarded a guess that Polanyi disagreed with two of them, rather than reading the opening chapter in Polanyi's Personal Knowledge: Towards a Post-Critical Philosophy (Chicago: U of Chicago Press, 1958) in which Polanyi provides a definition of objectivity. It is argued that there are no methodological tracks to the truth from which Polanyi & other antiobjectivist philosophers are derailing us. In a Reply, Steele states that Lavoie has misread his argument. A rationalist & objectivist epistemology does not imply the nonexistence or nonimportance of "tacit" skills or unformulated judgments. Polanyi's authoritarianism & intolerance are rejected, along with his antirationalism & fideism. F. S. J. Ledgister

A review essay on books by: Peter Rutland, The Myth of the Plan: Lessons of Soviet Planning Experience (LaSalle, Ill: Open Court, 1985); & A. J. Polan, Lenin and the End of Politics (Berkeley: U of California Press, 1984 [see listings in IRPS No. 51]). Rutland's work presents a history of economic planning in the USSR, treating it as a political system for maintenance of power rather than an economic system. He argues that there is little likelihood of reform of the system since current political stability is based on it. Polan's work is strongest in its appreciation of V. I. Lenin's theoretical vision of socialism. In Polan's view, Lenin had a naive conception of postrevolutionary society & of bureaucracy, expecting central planning to make coercion unnecessary & to render the state a mere administrative apparatus. Lenin's neglect of politics led the way to Stalinism. It is argued that the type of politics best suited to modern society are being developed by the libertarian movement. A. Waters