The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the limitations of a Hayekian reading of history, comparing it with the theoretical perspective of Hannah Arendts political action. The article constitutes of three parts: in the first part we present the Hayekian theory of spontaneous order as a rational order and laws as inexorable as the ones he criticizes in Marx; in other words, the idea of the markets self-development seen as the only possible way to organize contemporary societies. In the second part we show that concepts precious to liberalism are present in critical authors such as Hannah Arendt, for whom the individual in political action binds himself to the historical construction of a fair world, reconciling individual liberties with collective interests. Finally, in the third part of the article, we compare the two authors, showing that the antidote to totalitarianism, and the space for freedom is not to be found in liberalism or the markets logic, as Hayek advocates, but in democracy, as Arendt pleads, as the central concept of its theoretical building and privileged space for political action, freedom and justice.
Friedrich August von Hayek; spontaneous order; political action; Hannah Arendt; market and democracy