Two Worlds at Once

The above is a shortened title of an essay by Steven Horwitz that I think is well worth reading. The longer title is ‘Two Worlds at Once: Rand, Hayek, and the Ethics of the Micro- and Macro-cosmos’. It was published inThe Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Vol. 6, No. 2 (Spring 2005): 375–404. It also appears on the author’s webpage here. 

Here is the abstract:

Although both Rand and Hayek supported capitalism, their ethical systems were distinctly different. This paper explores these differences and how they apply to the institution of the family. It concludes that Rand's ethical system matches very well with what Hayek sees as necessary in the "Great Society" of the macro-cosmos, but that our understanding of the institution of the family seems better suited to a more altruistic ethical code. The challenge for a Hayekian ethics that pays attention to institutional contexts is how to ensure that the complex process of making those distinctions is learned as children pass into adulthood. [end]

Horwitz does not use “altruistic” to mean what Rand meant by it. The following is Horwitz’s definition.

“For the purposes of this analysis, I will define an act as altruistic if it is intended to benefit another and any benefits that might accrue to the actor are not the reason for undertaking the act. Contrast this to acts of exchange, which may well benefit another, and can even be intended to benefit another, but are normally assumed to have as their motivating cause that they benefit oneself first and foremost” (382).