TY  - CHAP
AB  - Abstract The purpose of this chapter is to examine the influence exerted on the thought of F.A. Hayek by the work of the biologist and founder of system theory, Ludwig von Bertalanffy. The author’s methodology includes textual analysis and archival work. It is argued first of all that Bertalanffy provided Hayek with a conceptual framework in terms of which he could articulate the philosophical significance of his theoretical psychology. In particular, Bertalanffy’s work afforded Hayek a set of concepts that helped him to articulate the relationship between mental and physical events – that is, between mind and body – implied by his theory. The second part of the chapter builds on the first by exploring how Hayek subsequently applied the abstract conceptual framework or ontology set out by Bertalanffy to the economy. In this way, Bertalanffy’s ideas helped Hayek to articulate and shape his emerging view of the economy as a complex adaptive system, which consists of different ‘levels of organisation’, which displays ‘structural’ or ‘emergent properties’, and which evolves over time on the basis of those group-level properties.
VL  - 34A
SN  - 978-1-78560-960-2, 978-1-78560-959-6/0743-4154
DO  - 10.1108/S0743-41542016000034A005
UR  - https://doi.org/10.1108/S0743-41542016000034A005
AU  - Lewis Paul
PY  - 2016
Y1  - 2016/01/01
TI  - Systems, Structural Properties and Levels of Organisation: The Influence of Ludwig Von Bertalanffy on the Work of F.A. Hayek
T2  - Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology
T3  - Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology
PB  - Emerald Group Publishing Limited
SP  - 125
EP  - 159
Y2  - 2024/09/19
ER  -