Neoliberalism’s leading thinkers were Austrian refugee philosophers of science

Evidence

Neoliberalism owes its scientific imagination to the strong contingent of philosophers of science who participated in its elaboration. Michael Polanyi, Alfred Schutz, Felix Kaufmann, Karl Popper, Ludwig von Mises, and F. A. Hayek, among others, were all refugees and exiles from Austria and Hungary who were immersed in the scientific world and volatile political situation of the interwar period. They unanimously perceived the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire as a disaster, responsible for the rise of an antagonistic politics pitting nationalism and conservatism against the growing communist movement. At that time, Vienna underwent one of the most radical municipal experiments of the twentieth century with the large-scale social policies promoted by the Austrian Socialist Party. — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 57

Categorization

• XREF: Directly fracturing the caricature that neoliberalism was purely an economics project — it was co-authored by philosophers of science who shared epistemic premises with progressives. — connects to: Neoliberalism fused philosophy of science and political economy against totalitarianism — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 53; Early neoliberal philosophers aligned with the right wing of logical empiricism — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 63; Interwar Vienna produced the extra-academic intellectual networks that seeded neoliberalism — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 101 (+2 more)
• DEEPTHINKING: The suggestion that neoliberal epistemology grew out of refugee scientists’ trauma over empire collapse — and shared assumptions with socialism — is a densely layered claim worth sitting with.

Broader Connections

• Interwar Vienna produced the extra-academic intellectual networks that seeded neoliberalism #expands (0.88) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 101
• Early neoliberal philosophers aligned with the right wing of logical empiricism #expands (0.85) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 63
• Neoliberalism fused philosophy of science and political economy against totalitarianism #expands (0.80) — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 53