The division of knowledge and unknowledge

Abstract

Already in 1937 Friedrich A. von Hayek raised serious concerns about the economic perception of knowledge in his essay “Economics and Knowledge”. In the following years (1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1968) he expressed himself in a series of articles about knowledge and the state of economic methodology and theory and even dedicated his 1974 Nobel speech “The Pretence of Knowledge” to this topic. The concept of knowledge is underlying his economic as well as his philosophical legacy. It is the glue that holds his thoughts about the economy, society and economic policy together. The criticisms he raised concerning the concept of knowledge underlying contemporary economic thinking were ahead of his time and precisely criticising different layers of economics. He split up the criticism in ontological and epistemological queries, discussions of economic methodology and theory as well as questions about economic policy. Additionally, he discussed the problem of knowledge with regards to statistics, creativity and rationality. His all-compassing treatment of uncertainty underlines the importance of the limits of knowledge in his legacy.