Hayek argued contextual individual knowledge cannot be statistically aggregated

Evidence

In so doing, he challenged not only socialist planning but also the positivism of neoclassical economics, telling both, in Michel Foucault’s words, ‘you cannot [act] because you do not know’. In his most influential article, The Role of Knowledge in Society (1945), Hayek distinguished between scientific knowledge of general laws and contextual knowledge of time and place, arguing that the specific knowledge possessed by individuals cannot be adequately aggregated or expressed in statistical form. — Jessica Whyte, The Morals of the Market, 211

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines the core epistemic distinction (scientific vs. contextual knowledge) that grounds the neoliberal attack on central planning — essential terminological groundwork for the whole debate.
• XREF: Connects to Keynes/Hayek debate and to the reader’s social-capital reading where dispersed/local knowledge matters for coordination. — connects to: Hayek grounded free-market economics in a theory of human ignorance — Angus Burgin, The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free…, 278; Hayek rejected utility maximization in favor of knowledge dispersion as the market’s justification — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 1926; Hayek located rationality in impersonal market processes, not individuals — Philip Mirowski, Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste, 223 (+14 more)

Broader Connections

• Hayek’s knowledge schema treats information as a disembodied good #expands (0.90) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2102
• Aggregate correlations cannot reveal the belief structures of individuals #exemplifies (0.90) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 1933
• Hayek’s epistemology drew on the same tacit-embodied model as Polanyi’s science #corroborates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2162
• Pure knowledge without a viewpoint is self-contradictory #corroborates (0.80) — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness, 836
• Neoliberals recast Hayek’s tacit knowledge into a commodified thing for scientific resonance #complicates (0.80) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2162
• Hayek justified markets by dispersed knowledge, not happiness maximization #qualifies (0.75) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 2195