Feigned ignorance of outcomes is structurally required for neoliberal order

Evidence

“Everyone must be uncertain with regard to the collective outcome if this positive collective outcome is really to be expected. Being in the dark and blindness of all the economic agents is absolutely necessary … Invisibility is absolutely indispensable. It is an invisibility which means that no economic agent should or can pursue the collective good. But we must no doubt go further than economic agents; not only no economic agent, but also no political agent … You cannot because you do not know, and you do not know because you cannot know.” Ignorance as the linchpin of the neoliberal project was already stressed in the previous chapter. These quotes reveal that Foucault got there first. — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 276

Categorization

• XREF: Links to Hayek’s ‘pretence of knowledge’ and the general Austrian/Misesian argument that dispersed knowledge makes central planning impossible — the idea that agents must not know the collective outcome connects directly. — connects to: Neopopulism strategically manufactures and amplifies uncertainty rather than offering alternatives — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities: Living with…, 442; Neoliberalism defines interest so as to render false consciousness unintelligible — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1869; Neoliberals weaponize performative ignorance to paralyze post-crisis response — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 40 (+7 more)
• QUESTION: Who is the ‘clever one’ Foucault is quoting here (Hayek? Becker? someone else)? Worth chasing the original source.

Broader Connections

• Manufactured ignorance buys time for neoliberals to stymie post-crash reform. #exemplifies (0.92) — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 942
• Neoliberalism’s deliberate epistemic inconsistencies enabled its long-term success #corroborates (0.88)
• Neoliberalism operates through systematic contradiction and disavowal of its own practices #corroborates (0.85) — Wendy Brown, Undoing the Demos, 81
• Strategic ignorance can be a ground-up equitable political strategy #complicates (0.75) — Aris Komporozos-Athanasiou, Speculative Communities, 327