The Fatal Conceit by {author}: summary and why it matters

What it argues

Hayek's claim is that the extended order of human cooperation, with its trade, money and property, grew by cultural evolution, as groups adopted practices that let them prosper. These practices, such as property, honesty and contract, are not products of design and are not fully understood by those who follow them, but they carry knowledge no one person possesses.

The fatal conceit is the belief that reason alone can design a better order and that morals which cannot be justified in rational terms may be discarded. Socialists, he argued, fail to see that the market order depends on such inherited rules and that attempts to replace them with a plan reduce the order's capacity to feed the world's population.

The text was edited from Hayek's late drafts by W. W. Bartley, and the editorial role has drawn some scholarly comment.

Why it matters

It is the late summary of Hayek's thought about knowledge, tradition and the limits of reason, and it sits between his liberal and conservative sides, since it vindicates inherited practices. Readers who value Burke may find unexpected agreement.

About the author

Hayek was in his late eighties when the book was published, after he had spent several years in poor health and had relied on the editing of the philosopher W. W. Bartley III. The book is volume one of the Collected Works of F. A. Hayek published by the University of Chicago Press. It restates the arguments of his earlier books in a more general form.

Who should read it

Readers of Hayek who want the intellectual capstone; start with The Road to Serfdom if new to him.