冯哈耶克的悲剧在于自缚手脚
肃慎书室主人
德·托克维尔与冯·哈耶克都是中国“自由主义者”(liberal,为避免某些人的穿凿附会,以下音译为“咧巴”)艳称的人物。两个人都是贵族,而且是没落贵族,更是有思想的没落贵族,所以气质上都特别“酷”,很合咧巴们的偏好。咧巴们对这两个人物的尊崇,正如影片《公主日记》中一位美利坚警察,听说肇事者居然是欧洲小国的女王,马上懵懵懂懂单膝跪倒一样。
读德·托克维尔与冯·哈耶克著作一如读《庄子》,带给人的是精神上的崇高与幻灭。这种感觉很刺激,很过瘾,尤其让魏晋颓废贵族那样的知识分子读了,简直飘飘若仙,欲罢不能。只能让读者感伤哀叹,却不能帮助读者建立有效的认知模式与行为模式,从而实现“更好的世界”,正是德·托克维尔与冯·哈耶克的思想悲剧。
悲剧在于德·托克维尔与冯·哈耶克的文字,都是自缚手脚的学说。我们不能因为哈耶克得过经济诺奖,就盲从盲信,因为给自然生态带来浩劫的某种杀虫剂的研制者,也曾获得诺奖。而且哈耶克获奖理由为发现价格信号的作用,也不过是剽窃了马克思的价值规律罢了;考虑到奥巴马同志的获奖原因也有些牵强,我们就不必再追根究底了。
但对冯·哈耶克的整体学说,必须予以清楚的评价,免得贻误後学。
一、基于没落贵族的阶级立场,哈耶克具有鲜明的反民主倾向。
他的《通向奴役之路》刚刚在美国出版,就受到政治学家Finer的严厉指责:这是在一个多年实践民主的国家里出现的对民主的最邪恶进攻。
The political scientist Herman Finer, on the other hand, denounced it (The Road to Serfdom) as “the most sinister offensive against democracy to emerge from a democratic country for many years.”
他在访问皮诺切特獨裁统治下的智利以後,对智利皮氏表示赞赏;历史学家Grandin讥讽他忽略了被皮氏处决的数千人和被折磨的数万人。
Personally I prefer a liberal dictator to democratic government lacking liberalism.
"of course," writes Grandin, "the thousands executed and tens of thousands tortured by Pinochet's regime weren't talking."
选择性失明是哈耶克惯伎,稍後还将详加剖析。哈耶克的追随者对美国入侵伊拉克造成平民死亡逾十万的事实讳莫如深,显然是承续了哈氏衣钵。
二、哈耶克曾经反对凯恩斯的货币扩张主张,根据直到不久前美国仍然使用“量化宽松”办法的事实,可以知道哈耶克是错的。他的错误在于僵死、狭隘,不知道适度财政弹性的意义。
三、哈耶克不明白,自发秩序总会产生冲突,那就需要强权解决争端;冲突愈激烈,强权越集中。哈耶克把经济学上的亚当·斯密精神盲目地套用到社会学上,忽略了两个领域内冲突解决机制的不同。
事实上,今天西北欧大多数国家都已经以社会主义自居了,哈耶克的“通向奴役之路”已经被证伪。哈耶克的理论错误在于,政府拥有干预国民的手段是正当而且必须的;能干预并不意味着必然干预,因为政府干预国民需要考虑成本、後果。尤其是民主制度,有效地规范了政府对国民的干预行为。
经济学家萨缪尔森不久前讥讽地质疑:恐怖集中营在哪里呢?意指右翼分子妖魔化瑞典那样的福利国家,其依据就是错误的“走向奴役之路”理论。
The economist Paul Samuelson, in a reminiscence of Hayek published last December, was more dismissive still. “Where are their horror camps?” he asked, referring to right-wing bugaboos like Sweden, with its generous welfare spending. Almost 70 years after Hayek sounded his alarm, “hindsight confirms how inaccurate its innuendo about the future turned out to be.”
哈耶克在《走向奴役之路》中,更是不惜自搧耳光,主张政府要承担福利职能。
In Hayek's view, the central role of the state should be to maintain the rule of law, with as little arbitrary intervention as possible.
However, the complete picture is not black and white. Hayek did write that the state has a role to play in the economy, and specifically, in creating a "safety net." He wrote: "There is no reason why, in a society which has reached the general level of wealth ours has, the first kind of security should not be guaranteed to all without endangering general freedom; that is: some minimum of food, shelter and clothing, sufficient to preserve health. Nor is there any reason why the state should not help to organize a comprehensive system of social insurance in providing for those common hazards of life against which few can make adequate provision."
四、哈耶克有意忽略,自发竞争也有浪费损耗。列国经济危机时向阴沟里倒牛奶,就是典型体现。计划经济中,计划成本可以避免庞大的交易成本。
五、哈耶克有意忽略,摸索新路需要认知成本。落後国家无须再继续“摸石头”。
六、哈耶克有意忽略,自然法在近代欧洲已经被主权法所取代。即原来主权是“宣布”法律,而此後则是“制造”法律。“自发的秩序”,後果如是而已,哈耶克又何必抱怨什么呢?
由于哈耶克学说的封闭、陈腐、随意、褊狭、僵滞,他在思想市场上的竞争力低得可怜,现在只是被某些人当作政治斗争的武器而反复提及。不知崇尚自由竞争的哈耶克,泉下有何感想?
If you can’t win in the marketplace of ideas, turn to government institutions to prop you up,
【英文引语出处】
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_von_Hayek#Chile
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/11/books/review/Schuessler-t.html?_r=1
(20100109)
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