Much better to read for Hayek is his classic collection of papers, Individualism and the Economic Order, which collects his contributions to the calculation debate -- in which I believe he is the Last Man Standing. Hayek's big book (literally) of political philosophy is The Constitution of Liberty, which is interesting parts. The Road To serfdom is designed as sort of popular propaganda and despite Keynes' admiration for it, is basically a collection of what Hayek knew were cheap shots. Hayek's' quirky book on the Counterrevolution id Science, against Enlightenment social planners, is _very_ interesting and thoughtful. He scores a lot of points, many of which echo Marx.
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
>
> On Apr 7, 2008, at 10:30 AM, (Chuck Grimes) wrote:
> > Since I've gotten through most of Popper's
> critique of Plato, and had
> > to put it down for the sake of sheer bordom, I now
> need to get
> > something by Hayek. What I am looking for is not
> so specialized in
> > economics, as in its general discussions about
> society, politics,
> > economic systems---generally something of more
> philosophical bend.
>
> Well his big hit, the one that poisoned my young
> mind, was The Road
> to Serfdom.
>
> Probably too narrowly "economic" for what you're
> looking for, but a
> deeply weird and insane book, is Prices &
> Production, about which
> Keynes said: "[O]ne of the most frightful muddles I
> have ever read,
> with scarcely a sound proposition in it beginning
> with page 45, and
> yet it remains a book of some interest, which is
> likely to leave its
> mark on the mind of the reader. It is an
> extraordinary example of
> how, starting with a mistake, a remorseless logician
> can end up in
> Bedlam. Yet Dr Hayek has seen a vision, and though
> when he woke up he
> has made nonsense of his story by giving the wrong
> names to the
> objects which occur in it, his Khubla Khan is not
> without inspiration
> and must set the reader thinking with the germs of
> an idea in his head."
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