Justice and Spontaneity

Abstract

AbstractProlonging Hayek's ideas, this paper discusses the link between the notion of spontaneity, according to which institutions are not the fruit of human design, and the idea of justice. First, the view that institutions develop spontaneously implies the impossibility of a conception of justice elaborated consciously. Second, if it is true that social order is spontaneous, then justice cannot be distributive. It will be argued that a conception of justice is still possible provided that this elaboration is not completely disconnected from its cultural context. The validity of the claim that distribution emerges spontaneously and cannot be just will be evaluated, in the last resort, in terms of the consequences of such a spontaneous order. If Hayek's economic analysis is correct, these consequences are, overall and in the long run, highly beneficial. Nevertheless, a spontaneous order involves some perverse effects which create the need for a deliberate intervention. It will be argued that, while distribution cannot be settled according to a conception of justice, this deliberate intervention has to be just.