Ethical Review of Social Sciences

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025): Ethical Review of Social Sciences
Articles

From Decentralization to Ethical Resilience: A Critical Reappraisal and Extension of Hayek’s Theory of Knowledge in Society

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Frans Lavdari
Sapienza University of Rome

Published 11.02.2025

Keywords

  • Decentralized Knowledge,
  • Digital Monopolies,
  • Ethical Resilience,
  • Market Coordination,
  • Price Mechanism

Copyright (c) 2025 Frans Lavdari (Author)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

From Decentralization to Ethical Resilience: A Critical Reappraisal and Extension of Hayek’s Theory of Knowledge in Society. (2025). Ethical Review of Social Sciences, 1(1), 36-47. https://doi.org/10.70150/dgk3a826

Abstract

Friedrich Hayek’s The Use of Knowledge in Society presents a seminal argument for the virtues of decentralized knowledge and the price mechanism, positing that markets, by leveraging dispersed, context-specific knowledge, can achieve efficient resource coordination without central oversight. Hayek’s work has deeply influenced economic thought, particularly in its defence of spontaneous order and its critique of central planning. However, Hayek’s framework, developed in a pre-digital and less interconnected economic landscape, reveals limitations when confronted with today’s challenges, such as digital monopolies, ecological degradation, and economic inequality. This article critically examines Hayek’s theoretical positions, revealing inconsistencies and limitations when applied to the complexities of modern global economies. The article then presents an evolved framework—the Ethically Resilient Market Theory (ERMT)—which builds upon Hayek’s insights, incorporating principles of ethical accountability, ecological valuation, and resilience to address the ethical and practical demands of contemporary economic life.

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