May 8, 1899

The Austrian economist Friedrich Hayek (May 8, 1899 to March 23, 1992) has an illustrious reputation among 20th century conservative thinkers. An awareness of the “pretense of knowledge” (those limitations later outlined by the French deconstructionists, among others) underlay his critique of liberalism. This view of man's intellect was summed up by his friend Michael Polanyi this way:

"A modern economy can no more be centrally planned than a cat is able to 'swim the Atlantic.'"

Dr. Alan Ebenstein,in Friedrich Hayek: A Biography (2001) includes this picture of the repose of an aging philosopher: "He would sit in the easy chair in his son's home, facing the fire, with a cat in his lap."

One suspects he mused then on how rarely the implications of his insights were applied.