6. Spontaneous Order
Thu, 2011-06-16 20:09 | by ddoctor
Featured Video
Speaker
Tom W. Bell is a professor at Chapman University School of Law.
Some people assume that for there to be order in human society, there needs to be some central planning or direction. But as Chapman University professor Tom W. Bell explains, much of the order we observe in our lives is not the product of human design; it's a product of spontaneous order. Drawing from the work of Adam Smith and Friedrich Hayek, Bell describes how understanding spontaneous orders helps us to understand markets, language, social norms, customs, and society itself.
Learn More
- Football and Spontaneous Orders [Article]: Stephen Davies demonstrates that free association can produce order through complex rule-governed institutions that no single person or small group designed.
- I, Pencil [Article] by Leonard E. Read. A classic 1958 essay that illustrates the process of spontaneous order through the story of the creation of a simple pencil.
- I, Pencil [Video]: Milton Friedman demonstrates through the example of a pencil how market prices provide just enough information to encourage social cooperation and prosperity.
- Natural and Artificial Social Order [Article] by Frédéric Bastiat. A classic exploration of spontaneous order and the mechanisms of society.
- Spontaneous Order [Article]: Nigel Ashford explains how order emerges in the absence of command in a free society.
Questions
Use these questions to enhance your understanding of the topic. We recommend watching the featured video first; the suggested resources will also help.
- Login or register to post comments
- Back to Top
Comments
Great! Spontaneous Oder explained simply.
If we determine that spontaneous orders are the result of HUMAN ACTION, the video has a mistaken example. In the 54 sec, profesor Bell puts the group of birds as an example of spontaneous order. But that is not product of human action, is the result of the instincts and nature of those birds.
I think Penn Jillete recently said something to the effect of, "I don't even know entirely what's best for me, how can we expect politicians to know what's best for themselves and 300 million people?"
I'm mobbed by beautiful girls every time I go to the beach, and I never plan it! Human desire is a very powerful thing...
Spontaneous order is amazing. Just think of how many decisions you made just today. It would be overwhelming if you wrote them all down. Every word i am writing is a result of it. The idea that you can somehow centrally plan all of our decisions is faulty. The idea that you could do it effectively is insane. We were born with free will, so I think it is in our nature to reason for ourselves. Central planning doesn't just fail because it is literally impossible, but because it rejects our human nature. If we weren't meant to reason we might as well all be inanimate objects, like a hammer...or a sickle.