“Hayek’s theory of evolutionary rationality shows how traditions and customs (those surrounding sexual relations, for example) might be reasonable solutions to complex social problems, even when, and especially when, no clear rational grounds can be provided to the individual for obeying them. These customs have been selected by the ‘‘invisible hand’’ of social reproduction, and societies that reject them will soon enter the condition of ‘‘maladaptation,’’ which is the normal prelude to extinction.”

—  Roger Scruton

"Hayek and conservatism", in Edward Feser (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Hayek (2006)

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Roger Scruton 45
English philosopher 1944–2020

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