The theological thinking in Lippmann’s and Hayek’s justification of the market order

Abstract

In formulating their political project, neoliberal authors have proposed a clear formulation of what they deem to be the role of the neoliberal state. The point of departure adopted by these authors is to identify what the state should not be if it were to follow the auspices of neoliberal thinking as proposed by the Mont Pelerin Society. This study focuses on Walter Lippmann’s, and Friedrich August Hayek’s concept of the free market and their opposition to planned economies. Lippmann and Hayek both argue that the state should not have the authority and does not have sovereign power over the market order. The premises that they establish are that the market order is a natural order that is beyond human control, and there is an epistemological gap between human knowledge, and its capacity and potential, and full knowledge of the market. [excerpt]