The Use of Knowledge in Society by F.A. Hayek

School might've told us that we can learn anything and everything and truly be masters of knowledge. While it's true that we can learn a lot and use knowledge to make a practical difference in our lives, there are limits to what we can know.
In his essay, The Use of Knowledge in Society, the economist and academic F.A. Hayek argues that knowledge will always be dispersed amongst the millions of diverse individuals that make up this world. Their wants, dreams, skills, and preferences can't be boiled down to some algorithm, but rather, this knowledge is very personal and locked behind the mind of an individual.
One might argue that by sharing knowledge we could eventually centralize it, however, Hayek's own work in the area of epistemology speaks against this. Social statistics cannot be equated with empirical observations in the natural sciences. Social statistics are more subject to change as individuals themselves change as a result of time and place. Just think of a time when you went to a store for one thing and your mind changed just in that moment.
Even with a super computer that could somehow store a bunch of social statistics, the ever changing nature of individuals in society cannot be fully comprehended by one central entity, but will be dispersed amongst us all.
#philosophy #economy #politicalscience

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