Hayek's Spontaneous Order and Varela's Autopoiesis: A Comment

Abstract

The comment clarifies that organizations (ranging from firms to states) include a command aspect for which Hayek and Varela's approaches fail to account. The command aspect arises from the observation – derived from Russell Paradox – that the type cannot be a member of itself. That is, the commanding authority is a quasi-independent of spontaneous activity. This entails that a spontaneous process cannot be self-enclosed or complete. There is a need for a semi-designing authority in order to provide the spontaneity with greater completeness.

I further argue that the Hayek/Varela approach confuses chaotic interaction, which characterize especially ecosystems and markets, with organic interaction, which typifies especially organizations ranging from organisms to firms. It is important to distinguish the two interactions in order to provide a theoretical account of the command aspect of organization.