Hayek calls a multitude of men a society when their activities are mutually adjusted to one another. Men in society can successfully pursue their ends because they know what to expect form their fellows. Their relations show a certain order.
The order of social events cannot be perceived by our senses, but can only be traced by our intellect. It is, an abstract and not a concrete order. It is also a very complex order. The more complex the order at which we aim, the more we shall have to rely on spontaneous forces to bring it about, and the more our power of control will be confined in consequence to the abstract features and not extend to the concrete manifestations of that order.
As concrete we shall describe particular real objects given to observation by our senses, and we shall regard as the distinguishing characteristic of such concrete objects that there are always still more properties of them to be discovered than we already know or have perceived.
Abstract posses limited numbers of attributes.
An order possesses certain abstract features irrespective of the its concrete manifestations, and that we may have it in our power to bring it about that an order which spontaneously forms itself will have those desirable characteristics, but no to determine the concrete manifestations or the position of the individual elements.
The kind of order achieved by arranging the relations between the parts according to a preconceived plan is called an organization. The discovery that there exists in society orders of another kind, which have not been designed by men but have resulted from the action of individuals without their intending to create such an order, is the achievement of social theory.
We can create conditions favorable to that growth within narrow limits.
Man does not know most of the rules on which he acts, and even what we call his intelligence is largely a system of rules which operates on him but which he does not know.
The structure of social life is determined by the rules of action, which manifest themselves only in their being obeyed. It becomes necessary to express the rules in communicable form so that hey can be taught by example.
Where the elements of the social order are individual men, the particular circumstances to which each of them reacts are those that are known to him, it is only when the responses of the individuals show a certain similarity, ot obey some common rules ,that an overall order will result.
Rules are effective when they infer costs.
Rules that are to enable individuals to find their own places in a spontaneous order of the whole society must be general; they must not assign to particular individuals a status, but rather leave the individual to create his own position.
The general rules of law aim at an abstract order whose concrete or particular manifestation is unpredictable.
If we do not provide this condition but restrict the capacity of the individuals to adjust themselves to the particular circumstances known only to them, we destroy the forces making for a spontaneous overall order and are forced to replace them by deliberate arrangement which, though it gives us greater control over detail, restricts the range over which we can hope to achieve a coherent order.
It is our restricted horizon of knowledge of the concrete facts which makes it necessary to coordinate our actions by submitting to abstract rules rather than to attempt to decide each particular case solely in view of the limited set of relevant particular facts that we happen to know. We must thus disregard knowledge which we posses; to come into terms with our unalterable ignorance of much that would be relevant if we knew it.
The order of social events cannot be perceived by our senses, but can only be traced by our intellect. It is, an abstract and not a concrete order. It is also a very complex order. The more complex the order at which we aim, the more we shall have to rely on spontaneous forces to bring it about, and the more our power of control will be confined in consequence to the abstract features and not extend to the concrete manifestations of that order.
As concrete we shall describe particular real objects given to observation by our senses, and we shall regard as the distinguishing characteristic of such concrete objects that there are always still more properties of them to be discovered than we already know or have perceived.
Abstract posses limited numbers of attributes.
An order possesses certain abstract features irrespective of the its concrete manifestations, and that we may have it in our power to bring it about that an order which spontaneously forms itself will have those desirable characteristics, but no to determine the concrete manifestations or the position of the individual elements.
The kind of order achieved by arranging the relations between the parts according to a preconceived plan is called an organization. The discovery that there exists in society orders of another kind, which have not been designed by men but have resulted from the action of individuals without their intending to create such an order, is the achievement of social theory.
We can create conditions favorable to that growth within narrow limits.
Man does not know most of the rules on which he acts, and even what we call his intelligence is largely a system of rules which operates on him but which he does not know.
The structure of social life is determined by the rules of action, which manifest themselves only in their being obeyed. It becomes necessary to express the rules in communicable form so that hey can be taught by example.
Where the elements of the social order are individual men, the particular circumstances to which each of them reacts are those that are known to him, it is only when the responses of the individuals show a certain similarity, ot obey some common rules ,that an overall order will result.
Rules are effective when they infer costs.
Rules that are to enable individuals to find their own places in a spontaneous order of the whole society must be general; they must not assign to particular individuals a status, but rather leave the individual to create his own position.
The general rules of law aim at an abstract order whose concrete or particular manifestation is unpredictable.
If we do not provide this condition but restrict the capacity of the individuals to adjust themselves to the particular circumstances known only to them, we destroy the forces making for a spontaneous overall order and are forced to replace them by deliberate arrangement which, though it gives us greater control over detail, restricts the range over which we can hope to achieve a coherent order.
It is our restricted horizon of knowledge of the concrete facts which makes it necessary to coordinate our actions by submitting to abstract rules rather than to attempt to decide each particular case solely in view of the limited set of relevant particular facts that we happen to know. We must thus disregard knowledge which we posses; to come into terms with our unalterable ignorance of much that would be relevant if we knew it.