Self, Society, and Spontaneity
Frankfurt School Critical Theory is influential on the left; Austrian School Neoliberalism is influential on the right. Their differing perspectives are analogous to the different notions of the unconscious held by Freud and Jung. Freud thought that the unconscious was our enemy to be brought under control of the conscious; Jung thought that the unconscious was our friend to be respected through a kind of dialogue. Analogously, Karl Marx tended to think that social systems are our enemy, to be overcome through rationality and conscious activity, while Friedrich Hayek tended to think that the spontaneous and unconscious processes of social systems are our friends, to be embraced through respect for complexity and liberty. The approach here is an integral one involving the synthesis of opposites by appreciating the truth in both. The result is the ongoing development of two major projects: an interdisciplinary social science via the general praxeology of the Austrian School, and an interdisciplinary system of liber(aliz)ation and human flourishing via the critical theory of the Frankfurt School. Join us in exploring the quartet of Freud:Marx::Jung:Hayek.