The conception of the man of Friedrich Hayek

Abstract

In this article, the author sets out the central aspects of the conception of human being of Hayek and their main intellectual antecedents. The Austrian thinker develops this conception in two levels. On the one hand, he offers a conception about what´s the human being: an individualistic being, whose historical evolution leads from “the tribal society” to the “extended society”; and it´s a creator being of norms and traditions. Of another one, how the human being is, their main dimensions are characterized: its ethics is heteronomous and immanent to the reproduction of the society; its reason is limited; is the freedom its central value, although it is limited to the economichal freedom and, finally, he to support that the human being are naturally unequal.

En este artículo se expone los aspectos centrales de la concepción del hombre de Hayek y sus principales antecedentes intelectuales. El pensador austriaco desarrolla dicha concepción en dos planos. De una parte, ofrece una concepción de lo qué es el hombre: un ser individualista, cuya evolución histórica conduce desde “la sociedad tribal” a la “sociedad extendida”, y es un ser creador de normas y tradiciones. De otra, cómo es, se caracterizan sus dimensiones principales: su ética es heterónoma e inmanente a la reproducción de la sociedad; su razón es limitada; la libertad es su valor central, aunque se limita a la libertad económica y, finalmente, sostiene que los hombres son naturalmente desiguales.