Some Implications of Hayek's Cognitive Theory
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Some Implications of Hayek's Cognitive Theory
| Author | Michael Strong |
|---|---|
| Published | 2013 |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Michael Strong’s essay draws a theory of innovation out of Hayek’s The Sensory Order, where perception is classification: learning uses received categories, while innovation creates new ones — usually to resolve an anomaly — which makes freedom a precondition for genuinely new ideas rather than merely a source of efficiency. It is the closest the curriculum comes to an explicit theory of where new things come from. |
Where I heard about it
- Brendan McCord — on his Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List, March 2026, in the section on Science, Technology, and Epistemology, beside The Sensory Order and Fuster’s paper on Hayek and cognitive neuroscience. Strong is a recurring presence on the list: he edited Be the Solution, in the capitalism and morality section, and McCord credits him with kicking the project off in 2022 with seventeen pages of notes. The full 211-entry list is on The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List.
About this edition
An essay, not a book: Critical Review vol. 25, nos. 3–4 (2013), pp. 461–472, reprinted as a chapter in Hayek’s Political Theory, Epistemology, and Economics.
Connections
- Innovation — what the essay derives from Hayek’s cognitive theory.
- Epistemology — the section this sits in and the essay’s method.
- Neuroscience — the field The Sensory Order anticipated.
- Knowledge — classification as the substrate of both learning and innovation.
- The Philosopher-Entrepreneur Reading List — the curriculum this came from.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.