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Friedrich Hayek on Knowledge

1899–1992 Austria

← All quotes by Friedrich Hayek

3 quotes

No human mind can comprehend all the knowledge which guides the actions of society.

The Socratic maxim that the recognition of our ignorance is the beginning of wisdom has profound significance for our understanding of society. The first requisite for this is that we become aware of men’s necessary ignorance of much that helps him to achieve his aims.

The Constitution of Liberty (1960)

Civilization enables us constantly to profit from knowledge which we individually do not possess and because each individual's use of his particular knowledge may serve to assist others unknown to him in achieving their ends that men as members of civilized society can pursue their individual ends so much more successfully than they could alone.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Friedrich Hayek (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.